RenaissanceRe looks set to launch Medici UCITS catastrophe bond fund

RenaissanceRe, the Bermuda based reinsurance company and third-party capital manager, looks set to be the latest to offer a UCITS insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, with a fund structure now registered in Ireland under its Medici brand, so presumably this will be a cat bond strategy, Artemis has learned.

The RenaissanceRe Medici ICAV has been authorised by the regulator in Ireland on November 1st and the UCITS ICAV structure will have a single sub-fund, the RenaissanceRe Medici UCITS Fund.

The RenaissanceRe Medici UCITS Fund has also been accepted under the ISDA protocol on November 13th, Artemis understands.

At this stage we haven’t been able to source a prospectus for the new UCITS insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund from RenaissanceRe (RenRe), but given the recency of its authorisation that is not surprising.

While we cannot yet be certain this is going to be a pure catastrophe bond focused UCITS fund strategy, it stands to reason it likely will be given the Medici branding RenRe has given to it.

Medici has been a long-standing brand name for RenRe’s catastrophe bond focused ILS investment strategies.

The RenaissanceRe Medici Fund Ltd. has existed since 2009, but only began taking third-party capital into the strategy in 2013.

At September 30th 2024, the Medici catastrophe bond focused strategy had approximately $1.98 billion in assets under management, $1.68 billion of which was from third-party investors, the rest from RenRe itself.

RenaissanceRe Capital Partners, the reinsurance firms dedicated unit for third-party and insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital management, counted $7.72 billion in third-party investor assets under management at September 30th this year.

But, the total firepower of the reinsurance joint-ventures and ILS funds managed by RenaissanceRe Capital Partners reached $9.26 billion at that time, which was the highest level tracked by Artemis so far.

As such, the planned launch of its first UCITS investment fund strategy, this RenaissanceRe Medici UCITS Fund, is notable, as RenRe looks to attract a potentially differentiated source of investor capital to its cat bond focused strategies through this new structure.

As a group, the current cohort of UCITS catastrophe bond funds counted over $13 billion in assets between them at the end of the third-quarter of 2024.

According to the Plenum CAT Bond UCITS Fund Indices, the cohort of current UCITS cat bond funds were averaging a 12.27% return for 2024 up to November 22nd.

View information on many dedicated ILS fund managers, as well as reinsurers offering ILS style investment opportunities, such as RenaissanceRe, in our Insurance-Linked Securities Investment Managers & Funds Directory.