VIG Re seeks €50m Euro wind retro with debut Charles Bridge Re cat bond sponsorship

VIG Re, the reinsurance arm of Vienna Insurance Group, is the latest first-time sponsor to enter the catastrophe bond market, as the company seeks a €50 million or greater source of fully-collateralized European windstorm retrocession through a Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC issuance, Artemis has learned.

VIG Re is a leading market-facing reinsurer in Central and Eastern Europe, but is also pursuing international growth and expansion and at the same time provides reinsurance to VIG Group companies as well.

This is the first time VIG has been seen in the catastrophe bond market though and its market entry will take the number of new cat bond sponsors seen in 2026 to 15, which will equal the record set last year once this offering settles.

Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC has been established in Ireland as a designated activity company for VIG Re’s debut catastrophe bond, sources have told us.

The structure is set to offer and sell a single tranche of notes to cat bond investors, with the proceeds of this sale to be used to fully-collateralize a retrocessional reinsurance agreement between Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC and VIG Re.

The current target is to secure €50 million or more in retrocessional reinsurance windstorm protection for VIG Re through this cat bond issuance.

The currently €50 million of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC 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, we understand.

We understand that the covered area is all the typical European windstorm zones, but that in this case Germany, France, Netherlands and Belgium contribute around 80% of the expected loss.

The protection from the Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC cat bond notes will run across a four year term, from January 1st 2027.

Coverage would attach once a European windstorm event drives an industry loss index value of more than 120 million, exhausting at 170 million index points, we are told.

The €50 million of Charles Bridge Re 2026 DAC notes come with an initial attachment probability of 2.58% and expected loss of 1.77%. They are being offered to investors with price guidance for a spread of between 3% and 3.5%, sources explained.

Given where price execution is in the cat bond market at this time, this is an opportunity for VIG Re to lock-in four years of retrocession at attractive rates, while diversifying its sources of protection with the support of capital markets investors.

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