Oak Global taps cat bond market for first time with $75M issuance
What's the deal? Oak Global, the specialist Lloyd's underwriting company, is entering the catastrophe bond market for the first time. It is seeking $75 million in protection through a 144A issuance of Arthur Re Ltd. — Quercian Re 2026-1 cat bond notes.
The deal will provide fully collateralised, multi-year retrocession coverage to Oak Reinsurance Syndicate 2843, which launched for the 2025 underwriting year. The notes cover US and Canadian named storms and earthquakes, as well as US wildfire events, over a three-year term running to the end of May 2029.
Arthur Re Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled special purpose insurer managed by Artex Risk Solutions, is issuing the notes. The structure is designed to make accessing the 144A cat bond market more efficient for clients, with a focus on index-triggered transactions.
The $75 million tranche features US$9.71M franchise deductible, an attachment point at $240 million of aggregate losses, and exhaustion at $365 million. The notes carry an initial expected loss of 3.29% and are being offered to investors at a spread of 7.25% to 8%.
Why now? Oak Global is a young operation — Syndicate 2843 only began underwriting in 2025. But the company has growth ambitions, and locking in capital markets protection early makes strategic sense. The cat bond market has been active, and Oak's seasoned management team includes executives with prior cat bond sponsor experience.
What could go wrong? Oak is a first-time sponsor, which can sometimes give investors pause. The notes cover a broad range of perils — named storms, earthquakes, and wildfires across the US and Canada — meaning multiple event types could erode the aggregate structure. The 4.6% initial attachment probability suggests meaningful risk for investors.
It is also possible that the protection will benefit broader Oak Global portfolios beyond Syndicate 2843, adding a layer of complexity to how the coverage is ultimately deployed.
The signal: Oak's debut highlights how even newly launched syndicates are turning to the capital markets for reinsurance capacity rather than relying solely on traditional retrocession. The use of Arthur Re's multi-cedant platform — built to streamline 144A issuance — reflects a broader trend toward making cat bonds more accessible to smaller or newer sponsors.
The inclusion of wildfire as a covered peril is also notable, given the growing frequency and severity of wildfire losses in the US. As the insurance-linked securities market matures, expect more niche players to tap it early in their lifecycle.
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