Liberty Mutual said it had raised $150mn of collateralised reinsurance from a renewal of its Limestone Re sidecar.
The new transaction comprised $58mn of debt notes listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange along with other capacity provided via private placements.
It replaced the first $160mn Limestone Re transaction that Liberty Mutual completed in 2016, which has expired.
Overall, the insurer has nearly $700mn of support from the platform, following further placements in 2018.
The 2019 transaction provides collateralised reinsurance support that forms part of the insurer’s US property catastrophe programme, as well as its US homeowners and global property reinsurance businesses.
The reinsurance exposure is relatively unique on the sidecar market as many of the vehicles provide quota share retro to reinsurance portfolios. Other examples include one of the two Alturas transactions completed this month by Axis Capital, sources told Trading Risk.
James Slaughter, chief underwriting officer of Liberty Mutual's Global Risk Solutions unit, said that the Limestone Re platform continued to be an integral component of the firm’s strategy for accessing third-party capital.
“Liberty Mutual's global reach makes us uniquely positioned to provide insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors diversified pools of risk while bringing them as close as possible to the underlying insurance risks.”
The firm’s director of ILS, Arno Gartzke, said that continued support from the firm’s key partners, despite challenging market conditions, reaffirmed the quality of risks which investors can access via Limestone Re.