Willis Towers Watson Securities, the securities arm of Willis Re, acted as Lead Structuring Agent and Sole Bookrunner on a €45 million catastrophe bond for UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A (“UnipolSai”), the multi-business insurance company of the Unipol Group. Atmos Re DAC delivers pioneering coverage against severe weather related perils in Italy to UnipolSai.
Atmos Re provides UnipolSai with €45 million of fully collateralised protection against atmospheric phenomena, snow pressure and flood risks in Italy (including Vatican City and San Marino Republic) for three years. Atmos Re includes an indemnity trigger on an annual aggregate basis with an event cap of €24 million and an event deductible of €1 million. This trigger is designed to deliver protection against a series of small and medium sized events falling below the traditional per occurrence property cat reinsurance program. The transaction was structured and placed by Willis Towers Watson Securities. Munich Re acted as Co-Manager. Towers Watson (Bermuda) acted as independent modelling agent on the transaction.
In conjunction with the Atmos Re placement, Willis Re placed a €45m reinsurance layer sitting immediately below the Atmos Re-backed layer. This placement attracted a diversified panel of traditional reinsurers and the coverage had the exact same characteristics as the Atmos Re-backed layer, but with a risk period of one year. The overall Atmos program was designed to maximize the interests of both sets of capacity providers at the risk return level they are most comfortable with and to ensure optimal size and price available to UnipolSai.
Alkis Tsimaratos, Managing Director, Head of EMEA West/South, Willis Re said: “The Atmos Re program symbolises the agility of UnipolSai to use all sources of reinsurance capacity available in the market to achieve its reinsurance protections.”
Marc Guy Victor Sordoni, Head of Reinsurance, UnipolSai, said: “With the Atmos program, UnipolSai will be protected against frequency of retention of non-peak peril natural catastrophic events, reducing the volatility of our financial results. This is in line with our long term strategy to build sustainable relationships with this market as an alternative way to access reinsurance capacity. We thank our trusted advisors Willis Re and Munich Re for their dedication and assistance throughout the course of this transaction.”
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