Insurance linked securities news, ILS news

Athene Holding Ltd., the life and retirement reinsurance firm that is majority owned by Apollo, has priced a $750 million issuance of preferred shares, the proceeds of which are set to partially fund deal commitments to its new Athene Co-Invest Reinsurance Affiliate (ACRA) vehicle.

Reinsurance giant Swiss Re has returned to the catastrophe bond market after a number of years’ hiatus, to sponsor a new $100 million Matterhorn Re Ltd. (Series 2019-1) transaction to tap the capital markets to support its retrocession needs, we have learned.

Aon Securities, the investment banking and insurance-linked securities (ILS) arm of the insurance and reinsurance broking giant, has hired Michael Popkin and Rick Miller in New York, who both join the firm from JLT Capital Markets.

White Mountains Insurance Group has revealed the cost of its investment into insurance and reinsurance linked asset manager Elementum Advisors, LLC, saying that the 30% stake was purchased for $55 million.

The Blue Halo Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) catastrophe bond, that was sponsored by Allianz Risk Transfer, a unit of global insurance and reinsurance group Allianz, has had the maturity date of its $130 million of Class A notes pushed back by one month.

A third private catastrophe bond transaction issued through the Willis Towers Watson owned Resilience Re Ltd. insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance platform now has its maturity date extended by a further year, likely to allow for development of potential losses.

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 9th June 2019, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

Investor appetite for the returns of U.S. hurricane risk exposed reinsurance remains strong in 2019 despite recent year’s of losses, as issuance of 144A catastrophe bonds that carry exposure to named tropical storms has reached nearly $2.2 billion so far this year.

While other jurisdictions are increasingly keen to realise the benefits of facilitating ILS transactions, regulatory oversight and institutions have helped Bermuda maintain its place as the leading domicile for the asset class.

The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (NCIUA) has returned to the catastrophe bond market for a second issuance in 2019, with a new $100 million Cape Lookout Re Ltd. (Series 2019-2) currently being offered to ILS investors.