With Oak Global successfully securing its debut catastrophe bond, the $150 million Arthur Re Ltd. – Quercian Re 2026-1 issuance, executives from the firm have highlighted how it marks an important moment in the development of the company and demonstrates its ability to access new forms of capital.
The company was at first seeking a $75 million source of retrocessional protection from the capital markets through its debut cat bond.
During the marketing phase of the transaction, Oak Global lifted the target size to between $125 million and as much as $150 million, while the price guidance of the notes on offer were also adjusted to a tighter and lower range of spreads.
On May 28th, we reported that Oak Global successfully secured the 100% upsized $150 million of retrocessional protection, with the notes pricing below initial guidance.
The transaction will provide a source of fully-collateralized, multi-year and multi-peril retrocessional protection from the capital markets to OAK Reinsurance Syndicate 2843, which is acting through its managing agent Polo Managing Agency.
The covered perils and regions for this cat bond are losses from US and Canada named storms and earthquakes, as well as US wildfire events, structured on an annual aggregate and industry loss trigger basis, with that coverage to run across a three year term to the end of May 2029.
Oak Global also noted that its debut cat bond issuance drew strong support from a diversified capital market investor base, which ultimately allowed the firm to secure a 100% upsized placement.
Alex Winfield, Co-Founder, Chief Capital Officer and Head of Strategy for OAK Global, commented: “Entering the catastrophe bond market is an important moment in OAK Global’s development. It reflects both the continued build-out of our platform and our ambition to access a broader, more diversified base of capital partners.”
Winfield continued: “This issuance enhances our ability to match risk to capital efficiently, while supporting the long-term, partnership-led approach that underpins our value proposition to clients.”
Ciara Svensen, Head of Ceded for OAK Global, said: “An efficient and diversified retrocession programme is central to our strategy and cat bonds will play an important long-term role in this. The cat bond market offers an attractive and complementary source of protection, particularly for more remote peak perils, where we continue to see strong pricing and demand from investors.”
Deepon Sen Gupta, Head of Capital Partnerships for OAK Global, added: “We are delighted to have secured such strong support from the global ILS investor community that reinforces the firm’s broader ambition to build a resilient, scalable business supported by long-term capital partnerships across both traditional and alternative markets.
“This transaction demonstrates our ability to access new forms of capital and further strengthens our position as a forward-looking risk partner.”
The Quercian Re cat bond notes were issued using Arthur Re Ltd., a Bermuda domiciled unrestricted special purpose insurer (SPI) managed by Artex that was established last year as a multi-cedant platform for efficient issuance of index trigger cat bond deals.
As a reminder, you can read all about this new Arthur Re Ltd. – Quercian Re 2026-1 catastrophe bond and every other cat bond transaction in the Artemis Deal Directory.
