Generali closes €190M cat bond for European windstorm losses

Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Monday closed a catastrophe bond that offers the insurer protection from European windstorm losses over a three-year period.

The deal is the first catastrophe bond closed by Trieste, Italy-based Generali, and the insurer has become the first Italian sponsor to enter the insurance linked securities market.

The bond, which offers €190 million ($261.8 million) of reinsurance coverage, was issued by Ireland-based special purpose vehicle Lion I Re Ltd.

The bond, which has been placed via a Rule 144A offering, has an indemnity-based trigger, Generali said in a statement Monday.

“Leveraging the consolidation of the group’s reinsurance since 2013, this catastrophe bond allows us to further optimize the purchase of reinsurance protection while maintaining a good degree of flexibility and diversifying the panel of capacity providers in order to mitigate counterparty risk,” Sergio Balbinot, chief insurance officer of Generali, said in the statement.