Kingstone targets debut catastrophe bond sponsorship with $100m 1886 Re
New York and northeast US focused insurer Kingstone Companies has entered the catastrophe bond market for the first time, seeking $100 million or more in named storm reinsurance protection from the capital markets with a debut 1886 Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) issuance, Artemis has learned.
This will be the first Rule 144A catastrophe bond issuance to benefit the cedent sponsor Kingstone Insurance Company, which is the main underwriting entity of aforementioned northeast US regional property and casualty insurance holding company Kingstone Companies, Inc.
The issuer is a recently formed Bermuda based special purpose entity named 1886 Re Ltd. and the vehicle will issue a single tranche of Series 2025-1 cat bond notes that will be sold to investors and the proceeds used to collateralize a reinsurance agreement between it and the ceding entity Kingstone Insurance Company, we understand.
We believe the name could be a reference to 1886 being the year the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, which would make sense given Kingstone’s northeast and New York portfolio focus.
Kingstone Insurance will benefit from a four year source of US named storm reinsurance protection with its debut catastrophe bond, we are told.
The 1886 Re Ltd. Series 2025-1 Class A notes will provide named storm protection across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island on an indemnity trigger and per-occurrence basis, over four annual risk periods from July 1st 2025 to the end of June 2029, sources said.
We’re told that the coverage from this first 1886 Re cat bond would attach after $200 million of losses to Kingstone Insurance and cover a share of the Kingstone reinsurance tower up to exhaustion at $440 million.
As a result, the $100 million of Series 2025-1 Class A notes that 1886 Re Ltd. is offering will come with an initial attachment probability of 2.027%, an initial expected loss of 1.477%, and they are being offered with price guidance in a range from 4.25% to 5%, Artemis understands.
It’s good to see another first-time catastrophe bond sponsor entering the market in 2025, with Kingstone Companies the latest to look to bring capital markets backed reinsurance into its tower using the cat bond structure.
Last year, at its reinsurance renewal, Kingstone secured $275 million of catastrophe limit. So it’s encouraging to see the insurer looking to add cat bonds into the mix to further diversify its sources of protection.
As a reminder, you can read all about this new 1886 Re Ltd. (Series 2025-1) catastrophe bond and every other cat bond deal in the Artemis Deal Directory.
