Slide’s recent $320m Purple Re cat bond cost risk-adjusted down 20%+ YoY: CEO Lucas

Bruce Lucas, the CEO of Slide Insurance Company, said today that the firm’s new $320 million Purple Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond came in with risk-adjusted pricing that was down more than 20% year-on-year, while his company expects to benefit from more reinsurance synergies as it has ambitious expansion plans.

As we reported, Slide secured its largest catastrophe bond sponsorship yet this month, finalising the new Purple Re deal to provide a 28% upsized target of $320 million in multi-year collateralized named storm reinsurance limit, priced below guidance.

With price execution in the cat bond market particularly strong this year, Slide’s founder and CEO Bruce Lucas explained today during an earnings call that the firm’s largest cat bond issuance was completed at attractive pricing.

Asked about his expectations for Slide’s reinsurance renewal this year, which is completed at the mid-year, CEO Lucas called out the attractive cat bond market pricing, but wouldn’t be led on whether this indicates how traditional reinsurance will price in 2026.

“We have not received quotes yet from our traditional reinsurance markets. Our reinsurance submission went out this week, so we expect to have a little better understanding of where pricing is going to fall in the next couple of months,” Lucas explained.

Continuing to say that, “I will note that we did recently place a large ILS bond. It’s about $320 million of limit, and that bond, risk-adjusted year-over-year, was down over 20%. I don’t know if that’s going to be where the traditional reinsurers come in, so I’ll just avoid any guidance on that point.

“Suffice to say, our guidance does have a reduction in reinsurance expenses embedded within it, but we don’t know the extent of what that reduction will look like until we get a little further along prior to our 6/1 renewal.”

Lucas also commented on the potential for more takeouts under the Florida Citizens depopulation program, on which he believes the opportunity is smaller than in prior years.

Lucas said, “The main driver, as to whether or not those policies are a good fit, is going to be the reinsurance cost. We don’t know what the reinsurance market is going to do this year. It, by all indications, it appears to be a down-pricing market, which is good for the consumer. That would open up a new tranche of policies that would look good to us.

“We do think that there is ongoing opportunities at Citizens. I cannot quantify what that is at this point in time, but, suffice to say, it is a smaller opportunity than what we have seen in prior years.”

Later in the earnings call, Lucas also highlighted the cat bond again, while explaining that Slide’s ambitious diversification plans will also bring reinsurance benefits.

“Risk-adjusted rates, I believe, will come down in 2026. I just can’t comment on what the magnitude of that is going to be, and certainly don’t want to be in a public forum, you know, negotiating what I think that’s going to be with our reinsurance partners. I do think risk-adjusted rates are lower, and our cat bond really reflects that. You also pick up overall diversification benefit on your reinsurance tower as you spread your footprint across a wider geography,” the Slide CEO stated.

Lucas further explained during the call, “There are tremendous reinsurance synergies to be gained by expanding our footprint outside of Florida and South Carolina. That is what we are really focused on more than anything else.

“We expect to launch California on excess-and-surplus lines in the next 30-60 days. We are on track to launch northeastern states, New York, New Jersey, later this year, and Rhode Island. There are a lot of other E&S pockets out there that we are going to launch later this year.

“So we think that even with a decline, potentially, a small one in rates this year, we still believe we’re on an upward momentum trend for top-line growth, given the diversification, new state launches, and our underwriting Slide has only accelerated over the last nine months within Florida. So that’s a good trend to have at this point.”

You can read all about Slide’s new Purple Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond and over 1,000 other cat bond transactions in our extensive Artemis Deal Directory.