Brit cat bond to cover multiple natural risks

NEW YORK--Guy Carpenter & Co. Ltd. and affiliate MMC Securities Ltd. announced Friday the completion of a multiterritory, multievent catastrophe bond transaction for Brit Insurance Holdings P.L.C.

The bond will pay Brit Insurance's principal subsidiary Brit Insurance Ltd. in aggregate up to $200 million in the event of a series of predefined severe natural catastrophes including U.S. hurricanes, California earthquakes, U.K. windstorms and Japanese typhoons and earthquakes.

The bond, which is being brought to market by ABN AMRO London, is the industry's second publicly rated collateralized debt obligation of natural catastrophe risk, according to a Guy Carpenter press release.

The senior tranche of the transaction was rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and AAA by Fitch Ratings.