Hamilton seeks at least $250m from Easton Re cat bond in proposed record sponsorship

Hamilton Insurance Group has returned to the catastrophe bond market with Easton Re Ltd. (Series 2027-1), targeting $250m or more of collateralised retrocessional reinsurance, Artemis reported on 21 October. At that size it would be the Bermuda group's largest cat bond sponsorship, according to Artemis.

A single class of notes would protect Hamilton Re, Hamilton's Lloyd's managing agency and syndicate 4000, its US unit Hamilton Select, an Irish-domiciled carrier and other group companies for three years, from the start of 2027 to early 2030. Cover would respond per occurrence to named storms in the US, Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and to earthquakes in the US and Canada. Losses would be measured with a weighted industry-loss index that attaches at 470m and exhausts at 850m index points.

Initial modelling puts the expected loss at 2.66% a year and the probability of attachment at 4.23%. Price guidance is a spread of 4.75% to 5.25%, which at the midpoint is about 1.88 times the expected loss, Artemis said.

The new bond replaces Easton Re 2024-1, a $200m issue that matures in early January 2027. That deal had an almost identical expected loss of 2.65% but paid a 7.5% spread, 2.83 times the expected loss. Hamilton's first Easton Re bond, a $150m deal issued from Singapore in 2020, paid 4% for a 1.48% expected loss.