Wildfire cat bond news

Mercury General Corporation, the California headquartered insurer, has entered the 144A catastrophe bond market for the first time, seeking $100 million or more in reinsurance from the capital markets with a Luca Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) issuance that will cover it for wildfire and fire-following earthquake losses in its home state, Artemis has learned.

According to reports, the US state of Colorado is exploring whether catastrophe bonds may be a suitable risk transfer mechanism to help it deal with growing wildfire related risks and address insurance affordability.

In time, as wildfire risk models advance and the market becomes more accepting of them, Guy Carpenter executives suggest investor confidence may increase, resulting in a growing willingness to deploy ILS capital to support the California market’s need for wildfire protection.

For now a third year in a row, the California Wildfire Fund is going without reinsurance or any form of risk transfer in 2022, as the market pricing on offer still does not meet the Fund’s goal of extending its durability.

Electrical utility Sempra Energy looks set to secure its third slice of catastrophe bond backed wildfire insurance protection at the minimum targeted issuance size of $180 million, while pricing for its new SD Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) transaction is on-track to settle at the mid-point of guidance.

Electrical utility Sempra Energy is back in the catastrophe bond market with what will be its third issuance and this time it is seeking a larger, perhaps $180 million or bigger, SD Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) transaction.

California based utility the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has finally secured $30 million of wildfire insurance cover from its second catastrophe bond issue, after the Power Protective Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) deal was priced at the raised coupon level.

Demonstrating that catastrophe bond funds and investors won’t buy into risk at any cost, we’re told that the second California wildfire cat bond from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the still unsized Power Protective Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1), has seen its price guidance rise considerably.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has returned to the catastrophe bond market in search of its second cat bond to provide it with wildfire insurance protection, with an as yet unsized Power Protective Re Ltd. (Series 2021-1) being offered to insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds and investors.

California electrical utility Southern California Edison has been approved to buy up to $1 billion of liability insurance protection for third-party wildfire-related claims, with catastrophe bonds approved as a structure it can use to secure some of the necessary limit.