Aon Benfield Securities completes Windmill I Re

Windmill I Re, which provides Achmea Reinsurance Company with EUR40 million of collateralized protection, is the first Europe windstorm indemnity cat bond for a European insurance sponsor.

Aon acted as structuring agent and placement agent on the transaction, which covers windstorm events within the covered area of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK.

Roleant de Haas, chairman of the board of directors at Achmea, said: “we are very happy with the coverage secured via Windmill I Re, the first catastrophe bond sponsored by our company. It is not only our first catastrophe bond but it is also indemnity based, which was one of our conditions. This catastrophe bond received strong investor interest and provided our firm with AAA rated collateralized reinsurance protection at very efficient terms for a three-year period.”

Paul Schultz, CEO of Aon Benfield Securities, added: “the objective of this transaction was to secure efficiently-priced capital o terms substantially similar to the traditional reinsurance market. The streamlined offering also makes catastrophe bonds available in smaller notional sizes on an economical basis.”