ILS

Bermudian reinsurer Argo Re has secured $100mn of second event multi-peril cover with its first cat bond, Loma Re, sister title Trading Risk revealed.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has placed American Family Mutual Insurance's $100mn tornado cat bond Mariah Re 2010-1 on CreditWatch with negative implications

Major insurance-linked investor Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has ratcheted up its industry loss warranty (ILW) capacity in the past six months, marking a swift turnaround in policy as cat bond sales dragged.

A handful of small to mid-sized European ILS fund managers have succeeded in riding the wave of interest in insurance-linked investments by raising over $250mn in recent weeks.

Collateralised reinsurer Aeolus Capital Management has raised more than $500mn to invest in the mid-year renewals as its private equity owners back out of the business, sister publication Trading Risk has reported.

Despite a reported increase in property cat pricing, a well-capitalised traditional reinsurance market has been sufficiently competitive to take market share from the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector in the mid-year renewals season.

Mark McComiskey, managing director of private equity firm First Reserve, is surprised by the frenzy of interest in new sidecar initiatives following the roll-call of major cat losses over the past 16 months.

(Re)insurers are actively lining up a broad range of sidecar-style structures to deploy if a significant catastrophe accelerates the hardening of property cat rates later this year.

Mark McComiskey, managing director of private equity firm First Reserve, is surprised by the sudden frenzy of interest in new sidecar initiatives following the roll-call of major cat losses over the past 16 months

Despite a reported increase in property cat pricing, a well-capitalised traditional reinsurance market has taken market share from the ILS sector in the mid-year renewals

London-based ILS manager Leadenhall Capital Partners has raised $50mn from new investors this year taking its assets under management to circa-$165mn.

Bermudian reinsurer Argo Re is turning to the cat bond market for the first time, attempting to raise $100mn of multi-peril protection under its Loma Re offering.