ILS investors

The Italian asset manager also plans to relaunch its multi-strategy ILS fund.

The industry has continued to build and innovate through a third strong year of performance.

Man AHL Cat Bond Strategy has $1bn in assets, around 2% of Man AHL Partners’ total of $54bn.

The TPA approach to investing was adopted by US pension fund Calpers last month.

Competition on price from traditional markets is weighing on bond market momentum.

The cedant’s current deal is due to mature at the end of January 2026.

Investor interest is warming up following a colder spell over the past several years.

The award of the mandates marks the California public pension plan’s entry into ILS.

ILS has been a driver of innovation in reinsurance, Convergence 2025 attendees heard Wednesday.

The funds will combine credit and ILS holdings.

Returns from cat risk investments stood at 20.1% for the year to 30 June 2025.

The allocation is around 3% of the fund’s total assets.

Sources have said $1bn+ of fresh capital from the region is expected to be deployed in 2026.

The facility will initially focus on US, Bermudian and European business.

The Bermuda firm said HS Sawmill reflected its continued focus on life insurance.

The resource was developed by leading ILS managers and investors.

Samild held multiple roles including head of alternatives at the Future Fund.

The ILS manager has $6.8bn in assets and will be led by MariaGiovanna Guatteri.

ILS executives talked pricing, capacity and opportunities in casualty at an ILS roundtable in Monte Carlo.

The target allocation to Munich Re, Elementum and the run-off AlphaCat funds fell in the year to 30 June 2025.

The capital supported sidecar-style syndicates and reinsurance start-ups.

The agency noted inflows to cat bond funds and investor interest in private ILS.

Dedicated reinsurance capital is on track to increase by 8% in 2025, the broker said.

ILS accounted for 2.5% of the pension fund’s total AuM.

The lawsuit is the latest development in the multi-billion dollar reinsurance scandal.

The sidecar took $19mn of cat losses relating to the California wildfires.

The yield figure comprises 6.53% of insurance discount margin and 4.28% risk-free.

Investors are drawing lessons from life deals to find new routes into insurance markets.

The Bermuda SPI will write a quota share of SageSure’s captive Anchor Re.

Canio spent over 19 years with PGGM, with nine of those managing ILS.

We discuss progress in collateral management with our Outstanding Contributor winner.

Former ILS lead Matt Holland left the company in May.

Some $400mn of bonds priced in the past week, after a record-setting H1.

The recommended “AIF lite” structure could be suited to cat bond lites.

The fund’s ILS portfolio is split between 70% property cat and 30% cyber risk.

The investment consultancy said yields increased in Q2 by less than could have been expected.

The Cayman Islands-domiciled SPI now has four institutional backers.

Initial responses to ESMA’s report welcomed the long timeframes for any changes.

Michael Hamer recognised for his work with investors and on reporting frameworks.

The awards celebration took place at the Hilton Bankside on 25 June.

The pensions scheme’s existing ILS holdings to Aeolus and HSCM are in run-off.

M&A and shifts in distribution arrangements bring risks and opportunities.

The fund lists Twelve, Swiss Re and Cambridge Associates as managers.

Investors eyeing private ILS include opportunistic allocators keeping watch on storm season.

The pension plan noted in June 2024 that it was exploring new options in ILS.

The man is alleged to have conspired with others to falsify LOCs and collateral letters.

The investment is a response to shifts in stock-bond correlations.

A total $225mn of fresh limit entered the market across two deals.

ILS offers efficient capital for underwriters, but casualty ILS transactions are complex.

The Swiss pension fund has not disclosed an ILS allocation before.

The pension plan has been allocating to ILS since 2005.

One dollar-denominated deal has opted to hold collateral in EBRC notes.

The bond will cover named storms in five US states.

Price guidance for the bond is 4.00%-4.50%.

The platform is based in Bermuda and will focus on strategic capital partnerships.

The buzz in the air at ILS Connect told of a market entering its next growth phase.

Richard Pennay also addressed the dip in cyber ILS activity.

Investor interest and capital flows point to potential for ILS proliferation.

This year’s ceremony will include the inaugural Women in ILS Award presentation.

An allocation to insurance could “feel like a nice, calm port in the storm” amid wider market volatility.

This is the first time the Texas Fair Plan has entered the cat bond market.

Fellow Swedish pension fund AP3 is phasing out its ILS allocation after being active in the sector since 2008.

Portfolio rebalancing was not triggered last week, but investors are now distracted and nervous.

US Coastal Property and Utica Mutual Insurance have brought out their first cat bond deals.

The Swiss rail pension scheme has been cutting its ILS allocation since 2018.

The Swiss pension fund’s ILS allocation stood at 4.9% of the total fund as of 25 March.

The asset manager has hired Rom Aviv as head of ILS.

Most of the ILS investments were made via the cat bond heavy High Yield Fund.

Palm Re will provide Florida named storm cat bond coverage for Florida Peninsula, Edison and Ovation Home Insurance Exchange.

The ETF will invest solely in natural catastrophe-exposed bonds.

Many UK pension funds are over-funded and lack appetite for higher-risk, higher-yield products.

Recent transactions on the platform include cat bonds from Flood Re and Brit.

Caution about capital markets volatility is leading sponsors to stagger bond renewals.

Industry sources estimate the market to be around $3bn.

ILS as a percentage of the pension fund’s total assets grew to 1.5%.

The bond was trading at around 12.3c on the dollar in the secondary market last month.

The UK listed investment manager has almost doubled its ILS allocation since April last year.

The bond will provide fire protection for MGA Bamboo’s California business.

The role oversees the $187bn Canadian pension plan’s ILS allocation.

The Class A section of the bond has doubled in size, at lower pricing.

UCITS fund diversification targets limit their capacity for US wind bonds.

Insurance Insider ILS revealed last week that the executive was leaving Property Claims Services. 

Wildfire is rarely singled out as an exposure that can shift portfolio outcomes.

The fall marks this the first time in 20 years the index has been negative in January.

Neuberger Berman’s AuM stood at $3.2bn as of 1 January 2025.

AuM remains generally flat at UCITS funds over the weeks since LA fires started.

The value of its investment in RenRe stood at $330.4mn as of 30 June 2024.

Standards and guidelines address institutional investors’ concerns over valuation risks.

Company touts growing investor demand for Asian cat risks.

Both the Class A and Class B notes increased in size.

PFZW’s insurance allocation stood at $8.7bn as of year-end.

The bond is split into five tranches, with two notes offered on a zero-coupon basis.

Aetna, Inigo and GeoVera were the three sponsors seeking lower multiples.

The index’s performance in November was stronger than the prior year, although YTD returns are behind 2023.

The deal is split into two tranches compared with the single note issued last year.

Spread guidance anticipates a lower multiple compared to 2024’s Vitality Re issuance.

The broker anticipates strengthening investor demand for collateralised re.

The Bermuda based entity is expected to continue on its “responsible growth trajectory”.

The $600mn fund could allocate up to 10% of assets to cat bonds from 2025.

Initial spread guidance for the three-year bond is set at 425-500bps.

The bond offers a higher multiple than a similar Fuchsia Re deal placed last year.

Mapfre Re CEO Miguel Rosa was “very satisfied” with the debut cat bond deal.

The Swiss-based team of Siglo has transferred to Cambridge Associates.

The former co-head of ILS at Schroders left the bank last month.

The ILS manager will “pragmatically accept” a degree of credit risk in deals.

Former ILS investors who left the space have looked again and re-allocated.

The scheme’s ILS allocation has held steady at 0.7% of the total fund.

Fidelis is seeking more cat bond cover than it did almost a year ago.

Spreads at levels favourable to sponsors could power Q1 2025 pipeline.

The UK Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) has around £391bn in AuM.

The new funds will target the US wealth market through financial professionals.

The bond provides protection in France and its overseas territories.

The low PCS number is presenting a challenge for ILW buyers and sellers.

Pricing is expected to “stay neutral of soften” for January renewals.

The sovereign wealth fund’s ILS investments grew to $828mn.

The manager’s ILS allocation now spans six of its seven investment funds.

The ILS industry alumnus is understood to have two ILS investors lined up.

Plenum said wind damage from Milton could lead to “moderate” losses for its cat-bond funds.

Losses to the NFIP-sponsored cat bonds remains a key area of uncertainty, the investment manager reported.

The ETF format provides for publication of a daily NAV.

Cat bond funds continue to draw interest as private ILS more challenged.

The subject business of the deal is Ascot’s ~$1bn property portfolio.

The proportion of total fund assets invested in non-life ILS held steady at 0.6%.

Florian Steiger’s strategy is seeking institutional capital for the Q4 primary issuance season.

The ILS allocation has posted returns of 5.5% for the year to date.

The pension scheme’s holdings in ILS delivered varying returns in run-off.

The Swedish fund AP2 invests in Fermat GAM, Elementum and Credit Suisse.

The Canadian pension plan’s investment rose to 1.2% of its total fund.

Sources said that Gallagher Re had ‘first mover’ advantage as the exclusive broker.

Sub-1% management fee and performance fee-only structures have evolved in ILS.

The regulation now allows pension funds a more flexible benchmark for measuring alternatives.

The Canadian pension’s sole remaining ILS allocation is with Fermat.

The capital will be deployed by Bermuda-based special purpose insurer Arachne.

Gordon was set to join start-up brokerage Juniper Re last month.

The pension fund’s ILS allocation as of the end of 2023 was CHF300.3mn ($356.8mn).

Various trends may work together to hold the cat markets up for longer than some had feared.

ILS returned 3.2% for the scheme in the first quarter.

The new global bond fund can take a ‘marginal allocation’ to cat bonds.

The fund is a continuation vehicle for five of HSCM's life insurance interests.

The platform’s ILS holdings comprise cat bonds and UCITs funds, and were up 8% over January and February.

The pension fund handed an ILS mandate to Hiscox in September 2023.

Retained earnings resulting from reduced loss activity also helped to boost ILS capital.

The group has also scaled back holdings with AlphaCat’s Soteria Fund.

The platform distributed ~$50mn to investors for 2023.

The fund will follow an existing Twelve strategy and add short-term corporate bonds.

The Cayman Islands entity raised $2.4mn last June.

There are currently 16 deals in the market.

ILS amounted to 3.5% of the fund’s total AuM.

ILS platform London Bridge II has had a good year as volumes reached $750mn, the CFO said.

It is only the second year in the last eight that the allocation grew.

Head of alternatives Gareth Abley believes the asset class remains attractive following a 16% return in 2023.

The firm was founded in 2015 to help clients raise capital.

Aside from the one-year view, 2023 remixes the track record.

The allocation last autumn amounted to around 1.4% of the investment manager’s total funds under management.

The asset manager’s largest ILS allocation across two multi-strategy funds is to a Leadenhall fund.

The fund will promote environmental and social characteristics under Article 8 of the SFDR.

The asset manager’s flagship ILS funds posted stellar returns for its 2023 fiscal year.

TRUE will use the capital injection to provide underwriting capacity in Florida “at a crucial time” and to expand its footprint nationally, according to a statement.

The US pension fund investor had altered its ILS portfolio, with a new investment to Pillar in 2021.

The Australian sovereign wealth fund first allocated to the ILS manager in 2016.

This latest funding round brings total committed capital for the collateralized reinsurer to $75mn.

The firm’s follow-only Syndicate 2358 has grown its stamp by 67% to £150mn.

ILS managers are still waiting for hard market growth.

Research by Kepler Absolute Hedge showed that seven out of the 10 best-performing alt credit funds were cat bond strategies.

The fund’s allocation to ILS decreased for the first time in three years.

As of year-end 2022, the fund’s largest ILS allocation was in a RenRe fund.

The fund has been adapting its investment strategy in light of inflation and rising interest rates.

Stress-test numbers were increased to 112, including scenarios of losses in multiple years, up from 105.

Fermat’s John Seo said the industry can “see the wall of money coming in, but it’s coming in slowly”.

The fund is on course for its strongest year of returns since inception in 2014.

The IOP will be integrated into the Open Protocol reporting template.

The Middle Eastern investor had built up a billion-dollar portfolio, but personnel turnover has ultimately driven it to reverse course.

A challenge facing the industry in the years to come is the question of how can it move through a rotation of its investor base to capture the growth opportunities that have arisen.

Ambassador was set up in 2021 with Embassy Asset Management the named investment adviser.

Interest income also boosted the results, with net assets of $9mn rising to $10.8mn by the half-year point.

The transaction covered a portfolio of $250mn in casualty risk premiums.

The pension fund is seeking a strategy with “low or negative correlation to public equity”.

The firm has moved to defend its plans against a rival strategy supported by a small group of investors.

The investment firm’s ILS holdings were worth around $746mn at year-end 2022.

The UK asset manager’s ILS strategy is operating across six of its multi-asset funds.

The manager has gained increments from existing investors and inflows from new ones.

At Trading Risk’s annual ILS conference, Lloyd’s CFO Burkhard Keese explained how the Corporation is working with the market to attract investors to participate in risk transfer across the Lloyd’s market.

The asset class is finding favour particularly with allocators that have been watching returns play out over the long-term horizon.

The firm identified market inefficiencies in its analysis of loss data.

The new higher-rate world brings the threat of some investors staying in a risk-off mentality.

The AP2 fund noted currency-hedging effects, turbulent financial markets and Hurricane Ian as factors in its alternatives segment loss for the 2022 year.

The alternatives manager acquired retirement services firm Athene in January, ahead of its $2bn ADIP sidecar raise.

The securitised reinsurance tokens require a minimum investment of $20,000 in the US and $2,500 outside of the US.

The Indiana Public Retirement System has in past years allocated to Aeolus several times, as well as to HSCM Bermuda and Nephila’s Palmetto Catastrophe Fund.

Fermat’s John Seo divided the potential incoming capital broadly into “fast” and “slow” capital.

The ILS manager said the cat bond sector could double to become a $70bn market in the next three to five years.

Hudson Structured Capital Management (HSCM) Bermuda has set up an insurance credit strategy seeded with $400mn of initial capital from Security Benefit Life Insurance Company.

The ILS manager’s analysis highlighted that Lloyd’s nat cat exposure had lowered over the six years to 2021.

The investment analysts wrote that market dislocation offered an opportunity to invest on attractive historic yields.

Conviction for ILS has shifted to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ at the manager.

For the ILS market, perhaps more than any other, the outcome of this year’s high inflation is still to be determined. Unlike other industries that are suffering increased immediate costs, this sector’s performance – as always – is ultimately driven by events no one can foresee.

ILS strategies specialist Siti Dawson is moving from LGT ILS Partners.

The pension investor re-directed capital to the Pillar Opportunity fund as of January 2022.

Frontier Advisors said sentiment continues to be challenged by performance.

Ludlow Re will grow “opportunistically” where there is confidence of producing attractive returns.

Most ILS firms are marking the Ian loss as a $50bn+ event, although there are exceptions.

The manager received a mandate from a new investor who had taken the call to come in ahead of Hurricane Ian.

The Massachusetts retirement system issued a request for proposals from ILS managers.

The major ILS investor described 2023 opportunities as attractive but said they were set to get more selective in the industry. 

Buyers are more open than ever to different sources of capacity, but the timing of entry will not be on the industry’s terms.

Hurricane Ian could present a challenge for ILS fundraising conversations this autumn if ILS firms do not find more financing solutions to manage trapped capital, according to panellists at Trading Risk New York 2022 last week.

Some are suggesting a rotation of the investor base may be underway, with a move back towards more opportunistic funds.

HSCM Ventures partner Vikas Singhal will join the Inclined board.

The implications for the Abu Dhabi investor’s billion-dollar ILS portfolio are not yet known.

The Lloyds-centric reinsurer has become a signatory member of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.

The fund’s allocations to general and life insurance investments have grown year over year.

The industry is sharpening its exposure forecasting capabilities in response to investor demand.

Craig Dandurand is to depart Australia’s Future Fund after nine years, as the pension scheme reorganised its investment team, putting its ILS portfolio under the responsibility of new head of alternatives Tammi Fischer.

The move would enable the Lloyd’s ILS platform to access investors with lower risk-return appetites after launching with quota share options only.

The Australian investor made 5.0% on its ILS investments in the 12 months to 31 March.

The hardening rate environment in Florida provided a mid-year opportunity for some, but overall there was little growth.

Investors, fund managers and service providers are adapting in the face of potential large losses from secondary perils.

The decade from 2010 ran the full gamut of catastrophe loss experience, reminding us that there is no such thing as a "new normal" in the world of ILS.

The asset manager also invests in Pimco ILS and has an inactive mandate with Nephila.

AP3 noted a ‘very interesting market with widening spreads’ as it made an ILS profit in 2021.

Markel Catco reported a small gain for its February result on 2019 side pocket releases, ahead of its early buyout of investors.

The firm recently invested $15mn in FedNat’s Monarch National.

The increase in allocation by the railways scheme contrasts with steady or declining ILS holdings at other UK pension funds.

The Dutch pension adviser hopes to scale the vehicle to $2bn-$2.5bn over time, as it reported a slightly negative ILS return for 2021 and revealed Integral ILS allocation.

ESG products can provide sustainable returns, panellists suggested.

Lloyd’s CFO and COO Burkhard Keese told delegates at the London ILS 2022 Conference that the platform’s scope will widen beyond quota share structures.

The Swiss rail fund made a 2.4% loss within its ILS portfolio.

The feeder fund to Neuberger Berman ILS strategies took a defensive stance ahead of 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.