Allianz pleased to re-start cat bond journey with Blue Sky Re

Global insurance giant Allianz has expressed its pleasure at a successful catastrophe bond issuance with the recently completed €250 million Blue Sky Re DAC (2023-1) deal, the first cat bond for the firms own account in more than a decade.

As Artemis has been reporting, Allianz returned to the catastrophe bond market in November, with a €250 million target for European windstorm reinsurance protection from this Blue Sky Re 2023-1 cat bond.

As we explained at that time, the last time we saw Allianz group in the cat bond market to secure protection for its own account was back in 2013.

Since then, Allianz had featured numerous times in our extensive catastrophe bond Deal Directory, but in recent years these issuances had all been for its Allianz Risk Transfer division to provide retrocession for some of the risk it fronted for ILS funds, such as Nephila Capital.

Now, Allianz is back and its Blue Sky Re DAC catastrophe bond successfully closed this week, meaning it is now incorporated into Artemis’ extensive cat bond data analytics and charts.

“This is the first cat bond protecting Allianz’ own account in over a decade,” Allianz acknowledged this morning.

The insurer added that, “The notes sold to capital market investors were well received and benefited from high investor demand.”

Allianz also noted that, “The transaction forms part of the overall catastrophe reinsurance purchased by Allianz. It supplements and diversifies Allianz’ sources of reinsurance protection against natural catastrophes.”

Thorsten Fromhold, Group Reinsurance Officer, Allianz Re, the entity responsible for structuring the transaction for the Allianz Group, commented, “Allianz is pleased to secure multi-year protection against our peak natural peril, windstorms in Europe, by returning to the insurance-linked securities market.

“Re-starting our cat bond journey with Blue Sky Re in 2023 broadens our risk mitigation toolbox.”

This Blue Sky Re catastrophe bond has secured Allianz €250 million in capital markets backed reinsurance against European windstorm losses, on a weighted industry loss trigger and per-occurrence basis, across three calendar years from January 1st 2024, to the end of 2026.

As we had reported, the notes eventually priced at the upper-end of guidance, providing a further signal for how the European property catastrophe reinsurance renewals are clearing at this renewals.

You can read all about this new Blue Sky Re DAC (2023-1)  catastrophe bond from Allianz in the Artemis Deal Directory.