Azimut Investments, part of the independent European asset management and financial services group, has gained approval from the regulator in Ireland for a new UCITS catastrophe bond fund, which will be named AZ Alternative – Insurance Linked Premium Yield, Artemis can report.The Central Bank of Ireland has now approved the launch of the AZ Alternative – Insurance Linked Premium Yield cat bond fund, that will be offered under the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regulations.Azimut Group had previously managed a UCITS cat bond fund, the AZ Cat Bond Fund Plus.That strategy had been launched back in October 2011 and was offered right up until July 2023, during which time it had reached around US $130 million in assets under management (AUM) at its peak.

Now, the investment manager is returning with a new dedicated catastrophe bond strategy structured as a UCITS fund, seemingly recognising the opportunity to once again manage cat bond assets for its investor clients.We understand that the AZ Alternative – Insurance Linked Premium Yield UCITS cat bond fund is currently expected to launch later this month, now that Central Bank of Ireland approval for its prospectus has been received.The fund will sit within the Azimut (AZ) Thematic umbrella trust regulated in Ireland and is said likely to launch with around US $40 million in seed capital.

AZ Alternative – Insurance Linked Premium Yield cat bond fund will be offered in two share classes, institutional and super-institutional units which we’re told are set to be priced competitively with other UCITS cat bond fund offerings in the market.We understand the new Azimut Investments UCITS cat bond fund will have a peak catastrophe peril focus, while being underweight certain aggregate and secondary peril cat bond investments, so having an emphasis on peak zone cat bond offerings.This AZ Alternative – Insurance Linked Premium Yield UCITS cat bond fund has been in the works for a while.

We’d hinted in previous articles that we understood from sources there was another to come.There have been a number of UCITS cat bond fund launches in recent months.Back in October, Man Group, a global independent alternative and active investment management firm, .

Then, at the start of December, King Ridge Capital Advisors LLC, the specialist insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment manager, .Now, with this new Azimut Investments UCITS cat bond fund strategy expected to launch later this month at this time, it means that for the start of 2026 there is likely to be 20 active UCITS catastrophe bond funds available for investors to choose from.With the cat bond market growing strongly through 2025 and its expansion seen as likely to continue in 2026, there is space for more UCITS strategies and investment managers are motivated to launch them, even while .

Sponsors of catastrophe bonds continue to see the structure as an attractive way to source reinsurance protection from the capital markets and that trend only shows signs of increasing at this time.While investors are increasingly seeing cat bonds as an attractive alternative asset class.The size of the UCITS cat bond fund sector is set to grow further, perhaps meaningfully given the expanding number of strategies available.

Further demonstrating how important this fund structure remains for the insurance-linked securities sector..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.