SCOR Investment Partners, the SCOR group’s portfolio management company, has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the capital of Coriolis Capital Limited (Coriolis Capital), a pioneering fund manager in the Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) field, investing in catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance and climate derivatives. Subject to regulatory approval, Coriolis Capital will become a fully owned subsidiary of SCOR Investment Partners, with the transaction due to be finalized in the second half of 2019.
The SCOR group is a longstanding player in the field of alternative reinsurance, having been present on the market for 19 years as both an issuer through SCOR Global P&C, with the first Atlas catastrophe bond issued in 2000, and as an asset manager since 2011 through SCOR Investment Partners.
SCOR Investment Partners is a recognized player in the ILS field, having started to invest in this asset class in 2011 with the launch of the Atropos investment fund. SCOR Investment Partners builds for its clients diversified ILS portfolios exposed exclusively to natural catastrophe risk, representing USD 1.3 billion of assets under management(1).
With this first acquisition, SCOR Investment Partners is entering an important new phase in its development and expanding its capacity on the ILS market, reaching an aggregate sum of USD 2.1 billion of assets under management(1)and operating in both Paris and London.
The combined ILS platform will enable SCOR Investment Partners to provide its investors with strong value-added expertise and services, including improved market access, additional expertise in financial engineering and complementary fund infrastructure.
Denis Kessler, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of SCOR, comments: “With this acquisition, SCOR is advancing its development in the field of alternative reinsurance in order to seize market opportunities and benefit from the institutionalization of ILS as an asset class. The resulting ILS platform will reach a critical size. Alongside ILS origination with our SCOR Global P&C clients, in synergy with the underwriting teams, this will create new opportunities for our ILS management business, enabling it to move into the top tier of the market.”
(1) As of December 31, 2018.
