ILS managers

A Memphis-based advisory firm, Gerber Taylor, has registered a new ILS fund of funds, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings show.

The top 10 ILS fund managers have exceeded $50bn in assets under management (AuM) for 2017, as they posted their fastest rate of growth in the past two years in the run-up to the 1 January renewals.

AlphaCat Managers said it had received the first third-party investments in its BetaCat cat bond tracker fund in the past quarter, as its overall assets under management rose to $2.7bn as of 1 January 2017.

Elliott Management has closed its previously announced acquisition of a controlling interest in ILS manager Aeolus, the companies announced.

Allied World's investment portfolio will transfer to Fairfax when its $4.85bn sale to the Canadian company closes next year, but this will cover only one aspect of its partnership with Bermudian ILS manager Aeolus.

2016 has been a year of diverging strategies for ILS fund managers, with some chasing expansion in specialty reinsurance and others focusing on branching out into new spheres of catastrophe exposure.

Albourne Partners senior analyst and partner Michael Hamer said developing a reporting template for insurance funds would be a "win-win" for investors and ILS managers.

Floridian insurer Heritage Insurance Holdings is to raise $79.5mn of senior secured debt through a private placement supported by ILS fund managers Fermat Capital Management and Hudson Structured Capital Management Bermuda

French asset manager Amundi has agreed to acquire Pioneer Investments from UniCredit in a EUR3.55bn ($3.74bn) cash deal, the companies announced this morning

City National Rochdale, an investment adviser for high net-worth individuals and families, has launched the Reinsurance Premium fund that will target investments in the tradeable side of the ILS market.

The Open Protocol Working Group has released a proposed reporting template for insurance funds and is seeking industry feedback on the initiative by the end of January 2017.

The London-listed Blue Capital Global Reinsurance fund recorded a 0.2 percent drop in net asset value over October, as it took $6.8mn of losses that were primarily linked to Hurricane Matthew