private cat bond

After a very busy first-half for the catastrophe bond market saw issuance of property cat bonds reach a new high of $9.7 billion, the Artemis community is forecasting the market will remain busy through the rest of 2023.

Seaside Re private catastrophe bond transactions from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 vintages continue to have their maturity dates extended, to allow for ongoing development of catastrophe losses that could trigger them, with almost $110 million of notes having their maturity extended out to mid-October.

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market saw $7.1 billion of new issuance in the second-quarter of 2023, becoming the biggest single quarter of issuance in the market’s history, Artemis’ latest quarterly report shows.

Randolph Re, insurance and reinsurance broker Aon’s private catastrophe bond issuance and placement platform, has completed a EUR 100 million private cat bond transaction, Randolph Re (Groupama), for Paris headquartered insurer Groupama.

Eclipse Re Ltd., a private syndicated collateralised reinsurance note, private catastrophe bond issuance and reinsurance transformer platform owned and operated by Artex Capital Solutions, has completed the issuance of two private cat bond arrangements totalling almost $18.8 million of risk capital issued.

There has been a further extension of maturity for a number of the 2022 vintage Seaside Re private catastrophe bond transactions that were issued by German reinsurance firm Hannover Re’s segregated accounts vehicle, Kaith Re Ltd., but some have now been allowed to mature, indicating greater clarity over the covered loss events.

White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd. has issued a sixth transaction in the Japanese Asagao private parametric earthquake catastrophe bond series, with a smaller that typical $4.6 million Asagao VI transaction coming to light.

The catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) market saw $3.3 billion of new risk capital issued in the first-quarter of 2023, but the big story of the opening period of this year was the elevated spread environment and as a result the promise of higher returns for investors, Artemis’ latest quarterly report shows.

German reinsurance giant Hannover Re has brought the first private catastrophe bonds that we’ve learned of in 2023, with three Seaside Re cat bond lites totalling $32.5 million of risk capital issued, the latest, use of its Kaith Re transformer vehicle to come to light.

The catastrophe bond market saw a lower than average $1.6 billion of issuance in the fourth-quarter of 2022, but the full-year total still reached $10.5 billion, while investors secured much higher pricing as cat bond spreads rose amid the hardening of reinsurance rates, Artemis’ latest quarterly report shows.