The California FAIR Plan Association is looking to upsize its second catastrophe bond sponsorship by 75%, with now $350 million of capital markets backed wildfire reinsurance protection sought from the Golden Bear Re Ltd. (Series 2026-2) cat bond issuance, Artemis has learned.
That move came on the heels of FAIR Plan’s debut catastrophe bond that was issued in December 2025, when it secured the largest pure wildfire risk cat bond ever, the $750 million Golden Bear Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1).
Clearly the FAIR Plan continues to appreciate the benefits of multi-year protection and finds cat bond market pricing conducive, as we’re now told this latest Golden Bear Re 2026-2 cat bond is targeted to be 75% larger than the original offering indication, with $350 million of notes now being offered to investors.
At the same time the price guidance has been lowered and narrowed towards the bottom of the initial range, indicating a strong chance of attractive execution for the FAIR Plan with its second cat bond sponsorship.
So the latest is that, Golden Bear Re Ltd. is now targeting issuance of a single $350 million tranche of Series 2026-2 Class A notes, that will protect the California FAIR Plan against California wildfire losses on an indemnity trigger and per-occurrence basis across a three year term to the end of February 2029.
The Series 2026-2 Class A notes come with an initial expected loss of 2.65% and were first offered to investors with spread price guidance in a range from 9.75% to 10.75%. We’re now told that the guidance has been updated to a spread of between 9.75% and 10%, so narrowed at the lower-end of the initial range.
The previous issuance of $750 million Golden Bear Re 2026-1 notes had an initial expected loss of 2.24% and priced to pay investors an initial risk interest spread of 9.75%, so paid investors a multiple-at-market of 4.35 times the EL.
These new 2026-2 notes could come with a multiple between 3.68 and 3.77 times the EL, reflecting the tighter spread environment we now see, but also the market’s increased confidence and knowledge of the CA FAIR Plan, as it nears completion of its second cat bond sponsorship.
This is the first pure wildfire risk deal of 2026, following on from 2025 when we saw the most wildfire transactions we’d ever recorded in our Deal Directory.
Wildfire risk remains a relatively small component of the cat bond market in its purest form, of cat bonds solely exposed to the peril Artemis data shows, but this second issuance for the FAIR Plan will grow that further and as a result the wildfire peril continues to offer more diversification opportunities for investors and cat bond funds.
You can read all about this new Golden Bear Re Ltd. (Series 2026-2) catastrophe bond and view details on almost every other cat bond ever issued in our extensive Artemis Deal Directory.
