Markel

Nephila Capital is experiencing elevated costs as the insurance and reinsurance linked investment manager builds-out and grows its managing general agency (MGA) platforms and readies for the launch of new ILS fund vehicles, Markel Co-CEO Richie Whitt has explained.

Assets under management (AuM) at the largest dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) specialist manager Nephila Capital fell slightly to $9.5 billion at the end of the first-quarter, with the reduced assets also a driver of lower ILS operating revenues at Markel Corporation.

Nephila Capital, the largest dedicated manager of insurance and reinsurance linked investment funds and assets, is expected to benefit from growing investor interest in the sector, with inflows of more than $1 billion anticipated in 2021, according to Markel Corporation executives.

The operations of the largest dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager, Nephila Capital, delivered higher revenues to parent Markel Corporation in 2020, thanks to expansion and growth of its managing general agent (MGA) platform and a return to growth in assets under management (AuM), which hit $9.6 billion.

Evidence of third-quarter 2020 catastrophe loss impacts and trapped capital are seen in Markel Corporation’s third-quarter 2020 results, as the company reported reduced revenues from its insurance-linked securities (ILS) operations, primarily due to a decline in management fee income at Nephila Capital for the period.

Markel Corporation hopes to see fresh inflows coming into its insurance-linked securities (ILS) business in the second-half of 2020, as the capital markets become less volatile and investor confidence recovers, according to Co-CEO Richie Whitt.

Nephila Capital, the largest dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager in the industry, has continued to drive rising ILS related revenues for parent Markel Corporation in the second-quarter, but its assets under management declined further, ending June at $9.5 billion.

As we reported recently, Markel Corporation has invested $90 million of its own capital into an investment strategy managed by its retrocessional reinsurance focused investment manager Markel CATCo, to boost capital available to fund investor redemptions.

Markel Corporation has put some of its own money behind the running-off of its retrocessional reinsurance investment manager Markel CATCo, investing $90 million in one of the CATCo funds in the first-quarter to boost capital available to fund investor redemptions.

Markel Corporation reported its first-quarter 2020 results yesterday and in its report the company warned of the potential hit to its insurance-linked securities (ILS) operations from the Covid-19 pandemic, which is perhaps partly evidenced in a -4% decline in assets under management at Markel’s flagship ILS fund manager Nephila Capital.