Specialist insurer Beazley has secured $300 million of cyber reinsurance protection with its latest cyber catastrophe bond, PoleStar Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1).
It means that as of today, the insurer has $670 million in cyber catastrophe bonds and over $1 billion of cyber excess of loss cover, making it the market’s largest and most comprehensive programme, according to the firm.
Issued via a Bermuda domiciled Special Purpose Vehicle, PoleStar Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) provides the firm with cover for remote probability catastrophic and systemic cyber events. Further, in what Beazley says is a first for cyber bonds, the structure includes three sub-layers which run for a three-year term through to the end of 2028.
This latest deal in Beazley’s series of cyber insurance-linked securities (ILS) bonds follows an announcement in November that the carrier is establishing a cyber ILS fund in 2026, as the firm looks to move beyond cyber cat bond issuance to securitisation and transformation of cyber risks.
“Investor interest in our cyber catastrophe bond issuance continues to be strong and this latest bond is evidence of our ability to drive sustained growth in the cyber ILS market,” said Paul Bantick, Chief Underwriting Officer, Beazley.
“We will be leveraging our new office in Bermuda in 2026, to go a step further and become a leader in investment, transformation and securitsation of cyber risks across the wider market. It’s an exciting time in the cyber ILS world and I am delighted that Beazley continues to pioneer and lead,” he added.
Initially, Beazley was looking to secure $200 million or more in excess-of-loss cyber reinsurance protection with this cyber bond, but strong demand saw the firm increase the target size to $280 million, before ultimately securing $300 million.
For PoleStar Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1), Gallagher Securities was the sole structuring agent and a joint bookrunner alongside Aon. Risk modelling was provided by Moody’s RMS and a second view of risk by CyberCube. Mayer Brown served as the deal counsel on the transaction.
You can read all about this cyber cat bond and all others on the Artemis Deal Directory, which can be filtered by peril to view just the cyber deals.
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