Willis Re Securities places underwritten 144A mortality cat bond

Willis Re Securities and Willis Re have structured and placed $100 million of insurance-linked securities for Minnesota Life, a life insurance subsidiary of Securian Financial Group.

La Vie Re provides Minnesota Life and Securian Financial Group with a single $100 million tranche of fully collateralised protection against a deterioration of the performance of its group life business over a three-year period. The structure features an indemnity trigger on an annual loss ratio basis.

The deal closed October 23 and is the first underwritten rule 144A cat bond exposed to extreme mortality risk on an indemnity basis. It priced with an annual risk spread of 2.85 percent.

Quentin Perrot, senior vice president at Willis Re Securities, said investors had supported the offering due to the robust structure that an underwritten rule 144A cat bond offers. “This speaks to the increased openness of the ILS market to not only broaden the scope of assumed risks, but also recognises the strength of the Minnesota Life portfolio,” he said.

Jim Fallon, executive vice president at Willis Re, said the La Vie Re cat bond will offer Securian Financial more sustainable access to the broader capital market investors.

“It demonstrates Securian Financial’s strategic utilisation of all the available sources of reinsurance capital,” he said.