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Allianz places catastrophe bond through new Blue Danube program
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on April 10, 2012
7 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on April 10, 2012
7 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
First take-down under Blue Danube with a volume of USD 240 million / Catastrophe bond covers US, Caribbean, and Mexican hurricane as well as US and Canadian earthquake risks / Largest US catastrophe bond transaction sponsored by Allianz to date
The three-year term Series 2012 catastrophe bond was issued in two tranches of 120 million US-dollars each by Blue Danube Ltd., a newly established Bermuda special purpose vehicle. It offers investors an interest spread of 6.00 percent and 10.75 percent over the permitted investments yield for the Class A and Class B notes, respectively. The Series 2012 bond protects Allianz against the risk of loss from certain hurricane events in the US, Caribbean, and Mexico as well as certain earthquake events in the US and Canada. The transaction is based on a modified industry loss trigger. The Class A notes have received a rating of “BB+ (SF)”, and the Class B notes a rating of “BB- (SF)” by Standard & Poor’s. Both tranches were significantly oversubscribed and up-sized from the originally announced volume of 100 million US-dollars per tranche.
The Blue Danube Series 2012 issuance partially replaces expiring cover under Allianzf Blue Fin catastrophe bond program but also includes some new features. For example, through the addition of Canadian earthquake as well as Caribbean and Mexican hurricane risk, it protects risks which are not common in the insurance linked securities market.
“This expansion of perils protected through Blue Danube Series 2012 allows us to better fulfill our risk management requirements. It aligns the scope of the cat bond protection with other forms of cover Allianz regularly relies on,” says Olaf Novak, CRO of Allianz Re, the reinsurance division of Allianz SE, which is responsible for structuring the transaction for the Allianz Group.
Over the past 5 years, Allianz has returned regularly to the catastrophe bond market underlining its commitment to all markets for natural catastrophe protection.
As with all content published on this site, these statements are subject to our Forward Looking Statement disclaimer, provided on the right.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The statements contained herein may include statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertain-ties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. In addition to statements which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words “may”, “will”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential”, or “continue” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation, (i) general economic conditions, including in particular economic conditions in the Allianz Groupfs core business and core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, and including market volatility, liquidity and credit events (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, including from natural catastrophes and including the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates including the Euro/U.S. Dollar exchange rate, (ix) changing levels of competition, (x) changes in laws and regulations, including monetary convergence and the European Monetary Union, (xi) changes in the policies of central banks and/or foreign governments, (xii) the impact of acquisitions, including related integration issues, (xiii) reorganization measures, and (xiv) general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and/or global basis. Many of these factors may be more likely to occur, or more pronounced, as a result of terrorist activities and their consequences. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
No duty to update
The company assumes no obligation to update any information contained herein.
First take-down under Blue Danube with a volume of USD 240 million / Catastrophe bond covers US, Caribbean, and Mexican hurricane as well as US and Canadian earthquake risks / Largest US catastrophe bond transaction sponsored by Allianz to date
The three-year term Series 2012 catastrophe bond was issued in two tranches of 120 million US-dollars each by Blue Danube Ltd., a newly established Bermuda special purpose vehicle. It offers investors an interest spread of 6.00 percent and 10.75 percent over the permitted investments yield for the Class A and Class B notes, respectively. The Series 2012 bond protects Allianz against the risk of loss from certain hurricane events in the US, Caribbean, and Mexico as well as certain earthquake events in the US and Canada. The transaction is based on a modified industry loss trigger. The Class A notes have received a rating of “BB+ (SF)”, and the Class B notes a rating of “BB- (SF)” by Standard & Poor’s. Both tranches were significantly oversubscribed and up-sized from the originally announced volume of 100 million US-dollars per tranche.
The Blue Danube Series 2012 issuance partially replaces expiring cover under Allianzf Blue Fin catastrophe bond program but also includes some new features. For example, through the addition of Canadian earthquake as well as Caribbean and Mexican hurricane risk, it protects risks which are not common in the insurance linked securities market.
“This expansion of perils protected through Blue Danube Series 2012 allows us to better fulfill our risk management requirements. It aligns the scope of the cat bond protection with other forms of cover Allianz regularly relies on,” says Olaf Novak, CRO of Allianz Re, the reinsurance division of Allianz SE, which is responsible for structuring the transaction for the Allianz Group.
Over the past 5 years, Allianz has returned regularly to the catastrophe bond market underlining its commitment to all markets for natural catastrophe protection.
As with all content published on this site, these statements are subject to our Forward Looking Statement disclaimer, provided on the right.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The statements contained herein may include statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertain-ties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. In addition to statements which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words “may”, “will”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential”, or “continue” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation, (i) general economic conditions, including in particular economic conditions in the Allianz Groupfs core business and core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, and including market volatility, liquidity and credit events (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, including from natural catastrophes and including the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates including the Euro/U.S. Dollar exchange rate, (ix) changing levels of competition, (x) changes in laws and regulations, including monetary convergence and the European Monetary Union, (xi) changes in the policies of central banks and/or foreign governments, (xii) the impact of acquisitions, including related integration issues, (xiii) reorganization measures, and (xiv) general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and/or global basis. Many of these factors may be more likely to occur, or more pronounced, as a result of terrorist activities and their consequences. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
No duty to update
The company assumes no obligation to update any information contained herein.
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