VIG Re lifts target to €60m for debut Charles Bridge Re catastrophe bond

VIG Re, the reinsurance arm of Vienna Insurance Group, is now aiming to slightly upsize its debut catastrophe bond sponsorship, raising the target to secure a larger €60 million of fully-collateralized European windstorm retrocession from the Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC issuance, Artemis has learned.

VIG Re made its debut in the catastrophe bond market for the first time last month.

Initially the company was seeking €50 million of retrocessional reinsurance windstorm protection from investors with this debut Charles Bridge Re deal.

In our first update on this transaction, we learned that VIG Re was looking to capitalise on investor appetite within the cat bond market, as the spread guidance for the notes on offer for this deal was reduced, while the €50 million target still remained in place.

Now, we’ve learned from sources that VIG Re is looking to secure more retrocessional reinsurance windstorm protection from the capital markets, with the target for this Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC issuance now raised to €60 million.

At the same time, we’ve also been told that the price guidance for the notes has been lowered to the bottom of the updated range that was offered to investors.

Charles Bridge Re is now offering cat bond investors a single €60 million tranche of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC notes.

These notes are designed to provide VIG Re with a capital markets backed source of retrocession against losses from European windstorms, with the coverage structured on a weighted industry loss index trigger and per-occurrence basis, running across a four-year term, from January 1st 2027.

The now €60 million of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC notes also come with an initial expected loss of 1.77%, and were initially offered to cat bond investors with price guidance for a spread of between 3% and 3.5%.

As we reported yesterday, the price guidance was lowered to a revised spread of 2.5% to 3%.

Now, sources have told us that the price guidance has been updated at a fixed spread of 2.5%, so the bottom of the reduced range.

It’s encouraging to see another first-time cat bond sponsor capitalising on market conditions. For VIG Re, this could be a very successful debut in the market, with the company likely to secure more protection than originally sought, at attractive pricing as well.

As a reminder, you can read all about this Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC catastrophe bond transaction in our extensive Deal Directory, where you can analyse details of almost every cat bond ever issued.