SCOR acquires asset manager Coriolis Capital to expand ILS arm; takes AUM to $2.1bn

French reinsurer SCOR’s portfolio management company is acquiring 100 percent of the capital of insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager Coriolis Capital, in a move aimed at expanding its capacity on the ILS market, reaching an aggregate sum of $2.1 billion of assets under management (AUM) and operating in both Paris and London.

This is the first acquisition of SCOR Investment Partners. According to the company, 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.

The transaction is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2019, following which Coriolis will become a fully owned subsidiary of SCOR Investment Partners.

Coriolis invests in catastrophe bonds, collateralised reinsurance and climate derivatives.

The SCOR group has been present on the alternative reinsurance market for almost 19 years, both as an issuer through SCOR Global P&C, with the first Atlas catastrophe bond issued in 2000, and an asset manager since 2011 through SCOR Investment Partners.

SCOR Investment Partners builds diversified ILS portfolios exposed exclusively to natural catastrophe risk, representing $1.3 billion of assets under management. It started to invest in this asset class in 2011 with the launch of the Atropos investment fund.

Denis Kessler, chairman and chief executive officer of SCOR, said: “With this acquisition, SCOR is advancing its development in the field of alternative reinsurance in order to seize market opportunities and benefit from the institutionalisation 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.”

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