ILS

Lancashire added to the post-Japan "return of the sidecar" speculation when it said last week that it was looking at ways to "leverage" its "underwriting capital".

Lancashire added to the post-Japan "return of the sidecar" speculation when it said last week that it was looking at ways to "leverage" its "underwriting capital"

Defunct Bermudian retro player PXRE - now owned by UK-listed run-off acquirer Tawa - has received approval from the Connecticut Insurance Department to withdraw $22,800,000 in the form of a cash dividend to its immediate parent WT Holdings, Inc.

It has been a steady start to the second quarter for cat bond sales, with three repeat offers coming to market.

Prices on the Muteki cat bond for Japanese carrier Zenkyoren have plummeted in the secondary market after ratings agency Moody's warned it was set to be a complete loss to investors.

Swiss Re confounded market expectations by keeping its Japan losses static as it reported a net $665mn loss for the first quarter.

An end to the rebound in the capital markets could put downward pressure on reinsurers' returns on equity unless other market trends change, suggests Aon Benfield's market analysis team.

Allianz has returned to the capital markets to top up its Blue Fin III cat bond, which covers peak US perils, taking new issuance over the $1bn mark for the year.

This year's catastrophe losses in the traditional reinsurance markets have created an opportunity for the cat bond market, Willis Capital Markets & Advisory says in a first quarter update on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector.

Collateralised reinsurer Catco is fundraising to invest in the mid-year renewals on the back of rising retrocession rates.

(Re)insurers Alterra Capital and PartnerRe warned investors to expect investment losses on their cat bond portfolio due to the Japanese earthquake as well as losses from their traditional indemnity portfolios.

(Re)insurer opinion on preferred cat bond triggers has diverged and become more entrenched following losses on parametric bonds in the wake of the Japan earthquake.