ILS

Canopius has reiterated its commitment to acquiring Omega after rival bidder Haverford disclosed an 83p per share tender offer for up to 25 percent of the company, The Insurance Insider can reveal

Japanese "big three" insurer Tokio Marine has issued a $160mn private cat bond in the latest sign of private market expansion, as the public cat bond pipeline slowed mid-year.

Investors in the $100mn tornado bond Mariah II are set to incur losses as totals for events covered by the bond pass its $725mn trigger, according to an update from ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Brokers estimate that the industry loss warranty market has expanded by a further $1bn-$1.5bn over the past year due to increasing demand following the 2010-11 cat losses and improved coverage terms

Hurricane Irene will hit primary insurers' pockets rather than being passed to reinsurers, analysts and ratings agencies predicted after the storm became the first to hit the US coast in three years

Willis is the latest reinsurance broker to woo investors for a new fund, Hendiatris, which will write collateralised reinsurance as well as insurance-linked securities

Swiss Re has said the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is poised for continued growth as investor demand for alternative risk increases

Industry loss warranties (ILWs) are shedding their image as opportunistic purchases and are becoming part of a core reinsurance/retro placement, Willis Re executive director Henry Kingham argues.

The ILS market proved its flexibility in the year to June 2011, with sidecar and industry loss warranty (ILW) business expanding as public catastrophe bond issuance shrank, broker Aon Benfield Securities (ABS) said in its annual report on the sector.

Aon Benfield Securities (ABS) has placed a $160mn private cat bond for Japanese insurer Tokio Marine with a handful of large insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market proved its flexibility in the year to June 2011 with sidecar and industry loss warranty business expanding as public catastrophe bond issuance shrank, broker Aon Benfield Securities said in its annual report on the sector.

Willis Capital Markets & Advisory managing director Bill Dubinsky estimated trading on the secondary cat bond market reached about $100mn in volume last week as Hurricane Irene bore down on the US, on top of the livecat activity.