French reinsurer SCOR has cited the benefits of early issuance as being a key factor behind the successful placement of its latest catastrophe bond, saying this helped them access currently favourable market conditions with the recent $240 million Atlas Capital DAC (Series 2025-1).
SCOR returned to the catastrophe bond market in March with its latest Atlas Capital cat bond deal, initially targeting a $200 million or greater tranche of Series 2025-1 cat bond notes, which eventually upsized by 20% to secure the reinsurer with $240 million of capital markets backed multi-peril and international retrocessional reinsurance protection, while the notes were priced 6.5% below the mid-point of initial spread guidance, at 7.25%.
This marks the nineteenth catastrophe bond sponsored by SCOR to use the Atlas name and the twentieth cat bond from the company since the year 2000, including its Horizon securitization of credit liabilities back in 2001.
This $240 million Atlas Capital DAC 2025-1 catastrophe bond will provide SCOR a roughly three-year source of annual aggregate, weighted industry loss trigger based retro reinsurance protection, running through to the end of May 2028.
The covered perils and regions for this cat bond are named storms in the US and Caribbean (including DC, Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands), as well as earthquakes in the US (including DC, Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands) and Canada, and windstorms in Europe too.
For this Atlas Capital 2025-1 cat bond, SCOR once again used its Ireland-based designated activity company named Atlas Capital DAC, which it used for its last two issues as well.
For those unaware, Atlas Capital DAC was established in 2023 for the Series 2023-1 cat bond issuance, and it may be utilized by SCOR to sponsor cat bonds covering various perils in both life & health and property & casualty, with the reinsurance firm also sponsoring a Series 2024-1 deal.
The French reinsurance company has been sponsoring catastrophe bonds since the year 2000 and you can read about all of them by filtering our Deal Directory by sponsor.
SCOR noted that the benefits of this vehicle were again visible this year, as it allowed for a fast and cost-effective issuance process.
Notably, the transaction was offered to cat bond investors around two months in advance of the start of the risk period, which ultimately SCOR said allowed it to benefit from the favourable conditions that are currently being seen across the catastrophe bond market.
It’s important to note, that the size of this Atlas Capital DAC (Series 2025-1) issuance falls in line with SCOR’s catastrophe exposures, and within its retrocession strategy under the Forward 2026 strategic plan, which identifies risk partnerships, including capital market solutions like cat bonds , as one of the Group’s levers for value creation.
In addition, GC Securities, the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) specialist unit of reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter acted as Sole Structuring Agent and Sole Bookrunner for the deal, while Willkie Farr and Walkers advised SCOR on the transaction as legal counsels.
François de Varenne, Group CFO and Deputy CEO of SCOR, commented: “SCOR is pleased to sponsor a new cat bond this year, securing multi-year protection against peak natural perils from the ILS market at favorable pricing conditions.
“SCOR has been a regular sponsor of cat bonds over the last 25 years, and we are delighted by the strong and continued investor demand, as cat bonds remain an integral part of our risk partnerships strategy under the Forward 2026 plan.
“We are also very pleased with the efficiency gains made by reusing Atlas Capital DAC for a third year.”
As a reminder, you can read all about this Atlas Capital DAC (Series 2025-1) catastrophe bond from SCOR and every other cat bond transaction in the Artemis Deal Directory.