New $18.48m Isosceles deal takes 2022 private cat bond issuance to $738m

Isosceles Insurance Ltd., the Bermuda-domiciled private insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond platform operated by Marsh McLennan and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, has completed another private cat bond note issuance, with an $18.48 million Isosceles Insurance Ltd. (Series 2022-H) deal.

The emergence of another private catastrophe bond deal before the end of the year has taken 2022 private cat bond, or cat bond lite issuance to almost $738 million, which is the fifth highest annual total for these private ILS deals that Artemis has recorded.

View our interactive chart where you can analyse private cat bond issuance by year.

Isosceles Insurance Ltd. (or Isosceles Re as it’s also known) is an ILS platform that was established in early 2020 as a private ILS and private cat bond (or cat bond lite) issuance platform.

It gave the broking group’s a way to collaborate on accessing the capital markets for reinsurance for their clients, as they put to use a rent-a-captive vehicle inherited when MMC acquired JLT.

The Isosceles Re vehicle issues 4(2) or 4(a)(2) securities, so private securities placements including privately placed catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and also the securitisation of other transformed collateralised reinsurance arrangements.

Since its launch, a number of Isosceles Re private cat bond transactions have been listed in our extensive catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) Deal Directory.

Just in 2022, we’ve now recorded details of four Isosceles private cat bond deals, for total risk capital issued of nearly $109 million across them all.

This latest private cat bond or ILS issued by Isosceles Re is a Series 2022-H transaction.

Isosceles Insurance Ltd. issued $18.48 million of discounted zero-coupon notes, on behalf of segregated account 2022-H, with the notes sold to provide collateral to underpin a reinsurance or retrocession agreement, we assume.

The $18.48 million of notes issued are due for maturity as of February 21st 2024, suggesting this transaction provides reinsurance or retrocessional coverage for at least a one year term.

While this is the fourth Isosceles Insurance private cat bond to come to light in 2022, as the previous three were Series 2022 A through C, and this a 2022-H deal, it seems likely there are other series to span that lettering gap that we do not know about at this stage.

The $18.48 million of 2022-H notes are structured as discounted zero coupon participating notes, which is typical of many private ILS transformations of collateralised reinsurance or retrocession contracts, converting them into a more liquid and investable security, usually for a cat bond specific fund or ILS strategy.

As with every private ILS or cat bond deal, until we learn more details we assume these cover property catastrophe reinsurance or retrocession risks.

With private cat bonds, often the risks will have been transformed to enable an ILS fund or investor to source an asset that meets a catastrophe bond mandate, or simply so a cedant can access the capital market investors for protection in a more efficient manner than undertaking a full 144A cat bond issuance process.

Private ILS or cat bond lite arrangements normally fit into one of a number of use-cases. Either as a straight collateralised reinsurance or retro cover for a carrier, that has been transformed and securitised, to be assumed by a single ILS fund or investor, or a small group of funds/investors.

Or, they sometimes represent ILS fund-to-fund transactions (hedging), or the transformation of a specific risk transfer arrangement, such as an industry-loss warranty (ILW).

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter’s specialist capital markets unit GC Securities will have structured the transaction and acted as a bookrunner for this Isosceles Insurance Ltd. private ILS transaction, while Marsh Management Services will have acted as the insurance manager for the vehicle itself.

As we said, this takes private cat bonds that we’ve tracked here at Artemis to almost $738 million for the year, with almost $109 million of those being from Isosceles Insurance Ltd.

At $738 million, 2022 becomes the fifth most active year for these privately placed catastrophe bond like instruments, at least for those we’ve sourced details of.

There’s always a chance additional private cat bonds come to light, so this annual issuance figure could rise and we’ll update you next year.

Privately placed catastrophe bonds remain a useful tool for cedents seeking out efficient capital markets reinsurance or retrocession, as well as for those seeking to transform reinsurance contracts into a more investable or tradable security for their liquid cat bond fund strategies.

You can analyse private cat bond issuance by year using our interactive chart.

You can also filter our Deal Directory to view only private cat bonds.

We’ve added this new Isosceles Insurance Ltd. (Series 2022-H) private cat bond from the Isosceles vehicle to our extensive cat bond Deal Directory.