Amundi US grows cat bond fund to $338m, taking dedicated ILS fund AUM to $989m

Investment manager Amundi US has continued to expand its most recently launched dedicated insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund strategy, with the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund having more than doubled in size in 2024, now reaching over $338 million.

This fast-growing cat bond fund strategy has helped Amundi US to grow its overall ILS assets under management across the two dedicated ILS mutual fund strategies it operates to $982 million.

Amundi US launched its first dedicated cat bond mutual fund, the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund, in the first-half of 2023.

The Pioneer CAT Bond Fund reached $84.2 million in assets by the end of October 2023, delivering its investors an 11.20% net asset value (NAV) return from launch to that time.

The cat bond fund strategy reached over $150 million in assets at its one year anniversary in late January 2024, then grew further to $218 million by the end of February 2024.

Since then, the asset manager has been able to attract more capital inflows and invested them in new and older cat bond issuances, taking its Pioneer CAT Bond Fund portfolio to over $338 million at this time.

That represents a more than doubling of this cat bond fund’s AUM since January and a further 55% in growth since the start of March, which is an impressive pace for the strategy.

Year-to-date, the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund’s Class Y shares have delivered a 4.85% return, while the 1-year return currently stands at 12.04%.

Meanwhile, Amundi US’ longer-standing dedicated mutual ILS fund strategy, the Pioneer ILS Interval Fund, has resumed growth for the first time in some quarters.

Having been as large as $1 billion in net assets back in 2021, the Pioneer ILS Interval Fund had shrunk through recent quarters, but now the fund has grown for the first time in a while.

The Pioneer ILS Interval Fund allocates its capital to quota share reinsurance arrangements, reinsurance sidecars and private collateralized reinsurance in the main.

This ILS fund’s net assets had dropped to $626 million at the end of January 2024, but in the last quarter of record grew back to end April at almost $651 million.

Which is an encouraging sign and we could see this fund strategy growing further at the next reporting, given the mid-year renewals will have provided more opportunities for Amundi US in the quota share and private reinsurance space.

In addition, the Pioneer CAT Bond Fund stands well-positioned to grow further later this year, once the cat bond issuance pipeline reopens.