VIG Re secures debut €60m Charles Bridge Re catastrophe bond priced at low-end

VIG Re, the reinsurance arm of Vienna Insurance Group, has now successfully priced its debut catastrophe bond, securing an upsized €60 million of fully-collateralized European windstorm retrocession from the Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC issuance with the spread finalised at the low-end of reduced price guidance, Artemis understands.

For a first-time sponsor of catastrophe bonds, VIG Re has secured more retrocessional protection than it was originally targeting, at better than anticipated pricing, as the investor base showed strong support for its first cat bond offering.

VIG Re entered the catastrophe bond market for the first time in October, initially 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 reported 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 a second update, we reported that VIG Re was looking to secure more retrocessional reinsurance protection as the target issuance size was raised to €60 million, while the price guidance for the notes was lowered to the bottom of the updated range.

The investor response to the latest offering terms has proved favourable, we are told, as VIG Re has now priced the notes at that reduced level, to secure the upsized target of retro reinsurance.

As a result, Charles Bridge Re DAC will now issue and sell to investors a single €60 million tranche of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC notes.

These notes will 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 €60 million of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC notes also come with an initial expected loss of 1.77%.

They were initially offered to cat bond investors with price guidance for a spread of between 3% and 3.5%, which was first revised to between 2.5% and 3%, later being fixed at the low-end of 2.5%.

That low-end is now where the €60 million of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC Class A catastrophe bond notes have been priced, securing the protection from the capital markets for VIG Re, we are told.

VIG Re has benefited from investor appetites and catastrophe bond market conditions, making its debut a positive experience we assume.

In 2026 so far, we’ve recorded 14 first time sponsors with cat bonds that are settled. Once this debut from VIG Re settles next week, it will make the company the 15th first time sponsor of the year, which equals the record of 15 set in 2025.

As new sponsors increasingly enter and experience attractive conditions for securing reinsurance through the catastrophe bond market, we tend to see them becoming repeat sponsors over-time which is a positive signal for continuing market expansion.

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.