PEMBROKE, Bermuda, November 28, 2023 – AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (“AXIS Capital” or the “Company”) (NYSE: AXS) today announced that it has closed the market’s first 144A cyber catastrophe bond, a $75 million transaction providing several of the Company’s subsidiaries with fully collateralized indemnity reinsurance protection for systemic cyber events on a per occurrence basis. Long Walk Reinsurance Ltd. (“Long Walk”) issued $75 million of Series 2024-1 Class A notes, maturing January 2026, to investors to support the reinsurance agreement with the Company.
“Long Walk is a strong example of how AXIS is demonstrating leadership through innovation and by developing elevated specialty solutions to address the challenges in a dynamic marketplace,” said Peter Vogt, Chief Financial Officer at AXIS. “Together with our partners Aon Securities, CyberCube and Sidley Austin, AXIS is proud that the ILS investor community has shown tremendous confidence in and acceptance of Long Walk, the first 144A cyber catastrophe bond, and our cyber underwriting capabilities. We expect Long Walk to provide meaningful support for the growth of our cyber insurance portfolio in the future. More broadly, we expect this transaction will serve as a template that the catastrophe bond market will use to support the availability of cyber insurance capacity in the years to come.”
The Long Walk catastrophe bond transaction was structured and distributed to investors by Aon Securities. The expertized risk analysis was provided by CyberCube’s Portfolio Manager platform. Sidley Austin served as the deal counsel on the transaction.
Richard Pennay, CEO of Insurance-Linked Securities at Aon Securities, said: “This is a notable catastrophe bond transaction, not just for the insurance-linked securities market, but also for the global cyber insurance market. It received broad investor support, and illustrated the catastrophe bond investors’ ability to work with AXIS to pioneer a product that provides meaningful catastrophe-based cyber protection. The transaction also ensures investors receive additional diversification across the catastrophe bond product spectrum, helping them to navigate potential volatility and build a resilient portfolio. Significantly, this transaction marks an important milestone, whereby the catastrophe bond market is leading in the development of a catastrophe-based cyber reinsurance product. There is strong insurer demand for the further development of this non-proportional product, and we commend AXIS Capital’s leadership in developing the catastrophe bond capacity.”
Pascal Millaire, CyberCube CEO, said: “We are proud to have supported AXIS in the world's first cyber 144A cat bond. AXIS, Aon Securities, Sidley Austin and CyberCube worked incredibly hard as a team on the development of a new chapter for the ILS market. We are very pleased to be part of this groundbreaking transaction. This deal highlights the confidence shown by the market in Portfolio Manager and the team at CyberCube. We believe this lays a foundation for the growth of cyber as an alternative asset class for ILS investors.”
Long Walk Reinsurance is a Bermuda exempted company and registered as a special purpose insurer. This is the first issuance of notes for Long Walk Reinsurance covering the AXIS insurance and reinsurance companies, including its Lloyd’s syndicate.
About AXIS Capital
AXIS Capital, through its operating subsidiaries, is a global specialty underwriter and provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions. The Company has shareholders' equity of $5.0 billion at September 30, 2023, and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore and Canada. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a financial strength rating of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard & Poor's and "A" ("Excellent") by A.M. Best. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) exists to shape decisions for the better — to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world. Our colleagues provide our clients in over 120 countries and sovereignties with advice and solutions that give them the clarity and confidence to make better decisions to protect and grow their business.
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About Aon Securities
Aon Securities is the largest insurance-linked securities focused investment bank by annual catastrophe bond issuance. Specializing in catastrophe bonds, Aon Securities has to date placed in excess of USD 7 billion of catastrophe bonds in 2023. The firm actively works with insurers and reinsurers, corporations and governments, globally to complement their insurance and reinsurance purchases with insurance-linked securities. Aon Securities is wholly owned by Aon.
About CyberCube
CyberCube delivers the world’s leading cyber risk analytics for the insurance industry. With best-in-class data access and advanced multi-disciplinary analytics, the company’s cloud-based platform helps insurance organizations quantify cyber risk to facilitate placing insurance, underwriting cyber risk and managing cyber risk aggregation. CyberCube’s enterprise intelligence layer provides insights on millions of companies globally and includes modeling on thousands of points of technology failure.
The CyberCube platform was established in 2015 within Symantec and now operates as a standalone company exclusively focused on the insurance industry, with access to an unparalleled ecosystem of data partners. It is backed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value, Forgepoint Capital, HSCM Bermuda, MTech Capital, individuals from Stone Point Capital and Scott G. Stephenson. For more information, please visit www.cybcube.com or email info@cybcube.com
