Aon places FM Global cat bond

FM Global privately placed its second US$300 million catastrophe bond, in response to the increasingly unusual earthquake activity in the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest regions. Aon Capital Markets served as lead manager to place the most recent cat bond.FM Global says it placed its first US$300 million catastrophe bond in June 2005.”The catastrophe bond is a cost-effective, conservative and highly secure financial alternative to protect FM Global’s balance sheet and provide our policyholders with added financial protection,” Jeff Burchill, chief financial officer, FM Global, says.Scientists representing FM Global have reportedly validated a consensus indicating that approximately once every 500 years, an earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which extends from southern BC to northern California, could release significantly more energy than previously understood.