Alpina takes over Falcon cat bond funds, transforms them to ESG compliant

Alpina Capital, through its Alpina Fund Management S.A. unit, has taken over the management and distribution of the Falcon Private Bank catastrophe bond funds and is transforming them into ESG compliant strategies under the EU taxonomy.

Alpina Capital acquired Falcon Fund Management (Luxembourg) S.A. at the end of 2020, taking over the business and retaining many employees, with the catastrophe bond funds moving over as part of the deal.

Daniel Nikolovski, CEO and founder of Alpina Capital, explained, “With this acquisition, we are continuing to expand our offering for both our private and institutional clients, and we will be even better placed to help them achieve their ambitious goals. At the same time, this transaction represents a milestone in Alpina Capital’s growth strategy.”

There were two Falcon branded catastrophe bond funds, one lower and one higher risk/return, both of which are portfolio managed by specialist cat bond, ILS and reinsurance investment manager Solidum Partners AG.

The funds were previously managed by ILS specialist Twelve Capital, but shifted to Solidum management in 2019.

The catastrophe bond funds will now sit under an entity trading as Alpina Fund Management S.A. and a rebranding of the funds to fit with the Alpina name is also happening soon.

The funds are currently branded the Solidum-Falcon Insurance Linked Strategy Fund, and the Solidum-Falcon Insurance Opportunities Fund which is the higher risk/return strategy of the two.

The Solidum-Falcon Insurance Linked Strategy Fund has assets under management of $38.4 million, while the Solidum-Falcon Insurance Opportunities Fund has AuM of $18.2 million. Solidum Partners manages around $310 million of catastrophe bond assets in total, having its own funds in addition to sub-advising these strategies.

The cat bond funds will soon be renamed as the Solidum-Alpina Insurance Linked Strategy Fund and the Solidum-Alpina Insurance Opportunities Fund.

Alpina Capital recognises the environmental, social, governance (ESG) opportunity and so is in the process of transforming the two cat bond funds into ESG compliant cat bond fund strategies.

The funds are being classified under the EU Taxonomy for ESG, with the lower-risk Insurance Linked Strategy Fund under Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy, Financial products with environmental or social characteristics (Article 8 – Light Green), and the higher risk Insurance Linked Opportunities Fund under Article 9 of the EU Taxonomy, Sustainable financial products with an intended sustainability impact (Article 9 – Dark Green).