July 2015/1

Two July deals from new sponsors added a further $350mn to the ILS issuance tally, with investors expecting further earthquake deals to launch in the third quarter.

The run of stealth (re)insurance M&A deals continued in the past month, with the focus moving to the primary market as Ace agreed a $28.3bn acquisition of Chubb

A handful of cat bond lite transactions cleared in the second quarter as market commentators predicted that use of such deals would increase.

Second quarter cat bond issuance this year was dominated by many repeat deals from the same period of 2014, but more subdued conditions prevailed.

M&A activity has taken off in the reinsurance market over the past year - with integration at some merged companies well underway while the fraught battle between Axis and Exor for PartnerRe continues

Mariah Re liquidators lose appeal; LGT leads on FHCF; US winter hits H1 cats; Assurant collateralised cover stable; Axis boosts PartnerRe bid; Axa UK longevity swap...

It is understood Catco founder Tony Belisle is keen for the company to tie up with a reinsurer as the Bermudian investment manager works towards a sale, but industry observers remain sceptical that this will be the outcome of the process.

A sequence of New Madrid earthquakes similar to those that struck in 1811 and 1812 could cost insurers $150bn, according to Swiss Re

Are ILS managers on a bit of a summer diet?

One of the world's largest catastrophe reinsurance buyers, IAG, is set to cut its reinsurance spending in the open market from 2016 after it entered a 10-year quota share arrangement with Berkshire Hathaway

Alternative market participation on the Florida Citizens Property Insurance traditional reinsurance programme dropped by 9 percentage points in 2015 as rated carriers led by Swiss Re and Everest Re bulked up their lines.

The top 10 ILS fund managers grew their collective assets under management (AuM) by less than 2 percent in the first half of 2015, according to Trading Risk records.