157 Re sidecar key for CCR Re to grow its property cat portfolio: Halm

French reinsurance firm CCR Re has been growing its property catastrophe portfolio in recent years and wants to continue this trend in 2023, seeing its 157 Re collateralised reinsurance sidecar as a key tool in this respect, Mathieu Halm, Chief Retrocession & Alternative Capital Officer at CCR Re explained to Artemis.

In an interview, Halm explained the importance of the 157 Re sidecar, which CCR Re has renewed for 2023 with a more than 40% size increase.

Halm noted that CCR Re’s reinsurance sidecar has now increased in size three years in a row, saying “the size of the sidecar matches our need for 2023.”

He disclosed that there are now three investors backing the 157 Re sidecar, after CCR Re added another for the 2023 underwriting year.

As it increases in size, the 157 Re sidecar is becoming an increasingly important source of retrocessional protection for CCR Re, but perhaps more importantly it’s also a third-party capitalised lever for growth.

“CCR Re’s Property Cat portfolio has grown each year for the last 7 years and our willingness is to follow this trend over the next years. The sidecar is consequently a key tool to support this ambition,” Halm told Artemis.

Going on to explain the importance of the sidecar investor relationships by saying, “Our ILS platform (157 Re) is one of the tools through the sidecar to accompany this growth. Continuity is consequently key to succeed.

“When we look for an investor, we look for a partnership on a medium to long term basis. The main and anchor investor is working alongside us for 5 years now.

“Therefore, being able to build a relationship with our ILS investors allow us to better implement our strategy and anticipate with them any sort of development.”

Halm noted that the 157 Re platform, as an insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure, provides flexibility and CCR Re could use it for other means in future.

He explained that, on the sidecar side, CCR Re plans, “To continue growing on the property cat side and when we will consider it makes sense to have compartments dedicated to new lines of business such as life, specialties.”

Adding, “We could think of a compartment of 157 Re for a Cat bond, that is indeed a possibility in a near future.”

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