March 2009/1

US insurer Chubb completed its $150mn East Lane Re III Florida wind indemnity cat bond earlier this month, demonstrating that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market is open once again. Goldman

Hannover Re has finally closed its $200mn sidecar, Kepler Re, three months ahead of its scheduled maturity, after shelving the renewal of the vehicle earlier this year due to market conditions. Hanno

(Re)insurance broker Willis Group has developed a parametric index for offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) energy exposures, which it hopes will help halt the shrinking of the pool of capacity for the peri

The closure of SCOR’s $200mn Atlas V cat bond in February marked the end of an issuance drought, opening the pipeline for two more deals that closed in early March. Atlas V – which provi

The lead managers on SCOR’s $200mn Atlas V cat bond noted a shift in investor attitudes during the six-month gestation of the first deal to close in 2009. Erik Manning, of structuring agent and

Cat bond structurers are exploring alternative European jurisdictions for special purpose reinsurance vehicle (SPRV) incorporation, after the Irish regulator forced two re-writes of the Atlas V trans

PERILS – the Swiss firm established to develop the much-anticipated European industry loss index – is targeting medium-sized and regional insurers in order to gather sufficient market dat

Berkshire Hathaway’s (BH) appetite for catastrophe reinsurance has been blunted and the company will sell less in 2009 in order to protect its capital cushion, according to chairman Warren Buff

The Class A notes of Ajax Re – Aspen Insurance’s $100mn 2007 earthquake cat bond – have been placed on CreditWatch negative by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), as it aw

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has extended the maturity date of excess liability company Oil Casualty Insurance’s indemnity-triggered casualty cat bond, Avalon Re, by a further t

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the class B notes of Fremantle – Brit Insurance’s three-year catastrophe swap deal – as the likelihood of a loss is diminishing with the risk period movin

SCOR has updated the notional portfolios used to model the attachment and exhaustion points on its catastrophe bonds Atlas Re III and Atlas Re IV, in a reset which became effective on 9 February. Acc