New $7m Eclipse Re deal takes 2024 private cat bond issuance to $375m

Artemis has learned of another private catastrophe bond issuance by the Artex Capital Solutions managed Eclipse Re Ltd. structure, with a just over $7 million Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2024-5A) taking the issuance of private catastrophe bonds, or cat bond lites, to almost $375 million in 2024 so far.

This is now the fifth private catastrophe bond issuance from the Eclipse Re platform in 2024.

With this latest just over $7 million Eclipse Re deal, private cat bond issuance from this structure that has been tracked by Artemis has now reached nearly $167 million for 2024, so far.

Eclipse Re Ltd. is a Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurance (SPI) company and segregated account platform, owned and managed by insurance-linked securities (ILS) market facilitator and service provider Artex Capital Solutions.

Eclipse Re typically acts as a risk transformation structure, acting on behalf of ILS fund managers and investors, converting collateralized reinsurance or retrocession arrangements into investable notes with features that are more akin to a catastrophe bond, so fully-securitized and with secondary transferability as an option.

In this case, Eclipse Re Ltd. has issued a $7.075 million tranche of Series 2024-5A notes, which we make the assumption will cover property catastrophe reinsurance or retrocessional risks for an unknown cedent.

The just over $7 million of Series 2024-5A notes have been issued on behalf of Eclipse Re’s Segregated Account EC65, with these notes having a final maturity date of May 31st 2025.

The $7 million of Series 2024-5A notes issued by Eclipse Re have been privately placed with qualified investors and we make the assumption that this latest private cat bond features a reinsurance or retrocession arrangement that has been transformed utilising the Eclipse Re structure, in order to create and issue a series of investable, securitized catastrophe bond notes, typically for an ILS fund manager or investor portfolio.

We don’t know the underlying trigger or peril(s) for this private catastrophe bond deal, but assume they will be some kind of property catastrophe reinsurance or retrocession risk.

The proceeds from the sale of this $7.075 million of Series 2024-5A private cat bond notes issued by Eclipse Re will have been used to collateralize a related reinsurance or retrocession contract, with funds held in a trust, enabling the risk transfer and the creation of investable catastrophe-linked securities.

Given the maturity date of this private cat bond is for the end of May 2025, it is likely this deal represents the securitization of a one year or less duration reinsurance or retrocession arrangement, likely from around the mid-year renewals.

With these fifth Eclipse Re deal of the year included, private catastrophe bond issuance from the structure that has been tracked by Artemis has now reached almost $167 million for 2024, so far.

In total, private catastrophe bond issuance across all structures tracked year-to-date by Artemis now stands at almost $375 million.

You can analyse private cat bond issuance by year through accessing this chart, where you can split our tracked catastrophe bond and related ILS issuance by type of arrangement, using the key.

Private cat bonds continue to be a useful structure for the market, that is also supportive of cat bond market growth, helping cedents to try out the market, either at lower-cost, or with fewer investors, while also providing a mechanism for ILS managers to securitize excess-of-loss risks for their funds.

Analyse private catastrophe bond issuance by year using our interactive chart.

You can view details of every private cat bond we’ve tracked by filtering our Deal Directory to see private ILS transactions only.