Secondary market news

Two outstanding per-occurrence catastrophe bond tranches sponsored by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation have been marked down much further on some broker pricing sheets in the last week, with secondary market bid pricing now implying a market expectation of a significant loss of principal.

A number of catastrophe bonds have been marked down in end of month secondary market pricing sheets, with some of the anticipated names suffering declines of between 25% and 35% in value.

The volume of catastrophe bond notes traded on the secondary market rose again in May 2021, as insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and cat bond investors adjusted their portfolios to accept the strong almost $3.3 billion of primary issuance seen during the month.

The secondary market for catastrophe bond trading has offered some good opportunities in recent times, but with the focus now back on primary issuance, it’s an interesting moment for investors, says Stephan Ruoff of Schroder Secquaero.

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., the Florida focused property and casualty insurer, has benefited from more reinsurance recoveries under its Citrus Re catastrophe bond series of deals, with more tranches seeing principal reductions, one of which has now been allowed to mature.

The catastrophe bond market has been demonstrating its “positive diversification characteristics” during the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, according to specialist ILS fund manager Plenum Investments.

The catastrophe bond market is once again demonstrating its financial liquidity, as secondary trading volumes have risen driven by certain investors looking to sell their positions at a time when volatility in the broader financial markets is extremely high due to the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the loss-exposed tranches of Florida focused property and casualty insurer Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc’s Citrus Re Ltd. catastrophe bonds has been partially redeemed by investors, with now $36.7 million of collateral from the originally $125 million tranche still retained by the sponsor and its maturity further extended.

The catastrophe bond new issuance pipeline is growing, according to sources, leading to expectations that the secondary market could face a particularly busy few months, as ILS funds and investors look to accommodate new cat bond deals and rebalance their portfolios.

Beech Hill Securities, Inc., a New York based full-service broker-dealer now has a catastrophe bond trading capability.