A.M. Best Affirms Rating of RoyalStar Assurance Limited; Removes Rating from Under Review.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) of RoyalStar Assurance Limited (Bahamas). The rating has been removed from under review with negative implications and assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. a stable outlook. This rating action follows A.M. Best's review of RoyalStar's losses emanating from third quarter 2004 hurricane activity and the impact on its risk-based capital in conjunction with the presentation of a formal recapitalization Recapitalization Restructuring a company's debt and equity mixture often with the aim of making a company's capital structure more stable. Notes: Companies often want to diversify their debt-to-equity ratio to improve liquidity. plan. The recapitalization plan included raising $5 million in preference shares through a private placement. The transaction was recently completed with RoyalStar in receipt of the funds at the end of May 2005. The recapitalization plan presented to A.M. Best following the impact of the hurricane losses met A.M. Best's capital strengthening expectations and fully supports the current financial strength rating. RoyalStar's financial strength rating was placed under review on October 1, 2004, due to the uncertainty surrounding the ultimate loss exposures from Hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Ivan in the Bahamas and Cayman Islands Cayman Islands (kā`mən), British dependency (2005 est. pop. 44,300), 100 sq mi (259 sq km), comprising three islands in the West Indies. and the effect of the hurricanes on the company's risk-based capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. . For Best's Ratings Best's rating A rating A.M. Best Co. assigns to insurance companies based on the company's ability to meet its obligations to its policyholders. , an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit http://www.ambest.com/ratings. For current Best's Ratings, independent data and analysis on more than 3,000 individual property/casualty companies and A.M. Best groups, please visit http://www.ambest.com/pc. A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at http://www.ambest.com. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion