We’ve learned that US primary insurance giant State Farm has registered a new company structure in Bermuda under the Merna Re naming convention that has applied to all of its catastrophe bonds, suggesting the insurer may be set to return to the capital markets for more reinsurance.
Of the now 24 series of cat bond notes we’ve featured in our Deal Directory over the years that State Farm has sponsored, 23 have been issued by a structure using the Merna Re name.
Find details about each State Farm catastrophe bond in the Artemis Deal Directory.
At this time State Farm has $3 billion of cat bond supported reinsurance protection outstanding, according to our catastrophe bond sponsor leaderboard.
The insurer was last in the cat bond market with issuances that settled in May 2025, when State Farm secured a significant $1.55 billion of new multi-year reinsurance. That was the most limit it had ever secured from the cat bond market in a single visit.
As we reported at the time, those four series of notes came from multiple Bermuda-based special purpose insurers, while we also later reported that $550 million of the limit secured would provide State Farm aggregate protection.
Prior to those issuances emerging, we had also broken the news that two new Bermuda SPI’s had been licensed for State Farm, named Merna Re Companywide Ltd. and Merna Re Enterprise Ltd., both of which featured in the record $1.55 billion visit to the cat bond market in 2025.
Now, we can also reveal that another entity has been registered, although is yet to be licensed we understand.
Merna Re Enterprise II Ltd. was established and registered in Bermuda last week, Artemis has learned.
Given the name, it is safe to assume this is another structure for State Farm and likely to be used for additional catastrophe bond issuances, we assume, perhaps as soon as the coming weeks.
Since 2013, State Farm has sponsored catastrophe bonds in March, April, May or June every year, so there is a strong chance the insurer returns for a 2026 catastrophe bond sponsorship, with this newly registered Bermuda based entity potentially set to be utilised.
State Farm has $450 million of cat bond limit that is scheduled to mature in July this year, $250 million of largely earthquake and named storm cover from the Merna Re II Ltd. (Series 2023-1) issuance and $200 million of Texas named storm cover from the Merna Re II Ltd. (Series 2023-2) cat bond that was issued at the same time.
As a result, the insurer may look to replace some or all of this, perhaps securing even more reinsurance in cat bond form in 2026, with the new Merna Re Enterprise II Ltd. perhaps set to feature as a platform for issuance.
We will of course update you if/when we see any signs of new Merna Re named catastrophe bonds in the market this year.
