Man Group, a global independent alternative and active investment management firm, has made an application to establish a UCITS catastrophe bond fund under its Man AHL brand, Artemis has learned from sources.Man Group already invests in catastrophe bonds across alternative investment funds under its Man AHL arm, the unit that has a focus on systematic strategies to deliver diversification as well as returns to investors.The company has a dedicated catastrophe bond fund strategy, the AHL Cat Bond Programme, which follows a long-only systematic approach to provide investors with exposure to insurance risk premia through tradable insurance assets, so typically 144A cat bonds.Man AHL has its main cat bond fund strategy domiciled in the Cayman Islands, we believe, but now understand the investment manager is in the process of applying for authorisation to launch a UCITS cat bond fund as well.

We’re told by sources that an application is now in with the regulator in Ireland, to authorise this Man AHL UCITS cat bond fund strategy, so it can be established and begin operating.Man has a number of UCITS investment funds authorised in Ireland already, but we understand this new authorisation application will be the first UCITS strategy from the manager to have a cat bond investment focus.AHL Partners LLP is registered in Ireland as an alternative investment fund manager, operating in Ireland or providing services on a cross-border basis, while Man Asset Management (Ireland) Limited is registered as a UCITS management company, meaning the asset manager has much of the infrastructure required already in place.

Being early in the process, at this stage no further specific details on this Man AHL UCITS cat bond fund strategy are available.Launching a UCITS cat bond fund strategy will help to open up the Man AHL cat bond investment strategy to a broader and more differentiated range of investors, while enabling the new UCITS fund to be offered more widely within Europe as well.At this time, there are 16 UCITS catastrophe bond fund strategies, which .

One other UCITS cat bond fund strategy is also in the works and expected to launch relatively soon, ..All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance can be accessed online.Our can be subscribed to using the typical podcast services providers, including Apple, Google, Spotify and more.