With more than two decades of experience in managing third-party reinsurance capital, and the recent creation of its casualty and specialty dedicated vehicle, Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe has become somewhat of a one-stop shop for ILS and reinsurance, according to Chris Parry, Global Head of Capital Partners.
“We’re very fortunate here, we’ve had a 20-year plus track record of managing third-party capital,” said Parry in a recent interview with Artemis.
The Bermudian reinsurer’s Capital Partners arm has evolved in this time, having initially been very focused on property catastrophe risk.
Now, RenRe Capital Partners is home to numerous different forms of investment vehicle, whether it be private equity via its DaVinci platform, or more of the traditional fund format seen with its Medici and Upsilon funds, which are the company’s cat bond and collateralised reinsurance strategies.
“Over time, what we’ve really tried to do is expand the product base and the offering,” said Parry. “Investors, I think, over the last five or six years have been obviously very familiar with the property cat product, less familiar with casualty and specialty, and we continue to get reverse inquiries from investors saying, are there other ways for us to participate? Are there other segments of the market that would be interesting?”
In response to growing investor interest in returns linked to exposures outside of the property cat space, RenRe launched Fontana Holdings, its first third-party capital backed joint venture focused on casualty and specialty risks.
“That’s been in the works for several years, but we were fortunate that the stars aligned. And so, we were really able to bring that vehicle to the fore. And for us, or for the platform as a whole, and for a franchise that really completes the full offering,” said Parry.
“So, we’re sort of a one-stop shop now for ILS and reinsurance. So, if an investor wants to get access to property cat, casualty, specialty, we can offer that product offering to them. So that has been particularly satisfying,” he added.
In addition to the reinsurer expanding its offering, the Capital Partners team has also been focused on diversifying its investor base.
“We were historically more North American centric, and over the years with the addition of PGGM and Vermeer, and other non-North American investors, we’ve really expanded our footprint. So, we really got great traction in Asia, Australasia, and Europe. That’s been a big focus of the team, just expanding that footprint,” explained Parry.
“And then, I guess, the team itself, we’ve grown, there’s no doubt about it. We were a relatively slim team in 2015/16. We’ve expanded the team; we’ve created more structure. I’m very fortunate I have a very strong senior leadership team,” continued Parry.
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