A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Endurance Specialty Insurance Ltd.; Revises Outlook To Positive.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR (Free System Resource) In Windows 3.x, the amount of unused memory in various 64K blocks reserved for managing current applications. Every open window takes some space in this area. See Windows memory limitation. ) of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition or Image Character Recognition) The machine recognition of hand-printed characters as well as machine printing that is difficult to recognize. ) of "a-" of Endurance Specialty Insurance Ltd. (Endurance) (Hamilton, Bermuda) and its operating affiliates. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "bbb-" of Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd. (Hamilton, Bermuda) [NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : ENH ENH Enhancement ENH Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (Illinois) ENH Evanston-Northwestern Hospital ] and all related debt ratings. The outlook for all ratings has been revised to positive from stable. (See below for a detailed list of the ratings.) These rating actions reflect Endurance's excellent capitalization, strong broker distribution network and significant risk management enhancements made over the past year. The company maintains a geographically diversified book of business, which includes both short- and long-tail lines of business. Endurance's positive outlook is based on several factors including the enhanced underwriting and risk management controls implemented following the 2005 catastrophe season. These controls enable the company to better analyze all property submissions for the effect on operating returns and zonal aggregations. Endurance has also bolstered its reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. program by purchasing additional coverage through both traditional and industry loss warranty markets. Furthermore, Endurance established catastrophe bond catastrophe bond A debt security with a payoff tied to the relative severity of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake. Bondholders are paid with insurance premiums but may have to accept reduced principal repayment in the event the specified coverage through the formation of Shackleton Re Limited. This three tranche Tranche One of several related securities offered at the same time. Tranches from the same offering usually have different risk, reward, and/or maturity characteristics. tranche A class of bonds. catastrophe bond provides protection from both first and second event U.S. earthquake and hurricane exposures. Endurance continues to exhibit strong financial flexibility with access to both equity and debt markets. Endurance's financial leverage measures remain commensurate with its rating levels. A.M. Best expects the company to maintain financial leverage as measured by debt and preferred-to-total capital at 25% or below, while fixed charge coverage is expected to remain in the upper single-digit range. These strengths are partially offset by increased competition, which is expected to flatten flatten - To remove structural information, especially to filter something with an implicit tree structure into a simple sequence of leaves; also tends to imply mapping to flat ASCII. "This code flattens an expression with parentheses into an equivalent canonical form." property rates and place additional pressure on casualty lines as companies seek to diversify their business profiles. This concern is somewhat mitigated by Endurance's strategy of selective acquisitions with the latest being the establishment of admitted and non-admitted primary U.S. affiliates. The FSR of A- (Excellent) and the ICRs of "a-" have been affirmed for Endurance Specialty Insurance Ltd and its following operating affiliates: * Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America * Endurance Worldwide Insurance Limited * Endurance American Specialty Insurance Company * Endurance American Insurance Company The following debt ratings have been affirmed: Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd.Co -- "bbb-" on $250 million 7.0% senior unsecured notes, due 2034 -- "bbb-"on $200 million 6.15% senior notes, due 2015 -- "bb" on $200 million Series A non-cumulative preferred shares Preferred shares Preferred shares give investors a fixed dividend from the company's earnings and entitle them to be paid before common shareholders. See: Preferred stock. The following indicative debt ratings have been affirmed for securities available under the shelf registration: Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd.Co -- "bbb-" on senior unsecured -- "bb+" on subordinated -- "bb" on preferred stock Stock shares that have preferential rights to dividends or to amounts distributable on liquidation, or to both, ahead of common shareholders. Preferred stock is given preference over common stock. Holders of preferred stock receive dividends at a fixed annual rate. Endurance Holdings Capital Trust I Ltd.Co(guaranteed by Endurance Specialty Holdings) -- "bb" on preferred securities Endurance Holdings Capital Trust II Ltd.Co(guaranteed by Endurance Specialty Holdings) -- "bb" on preferred securities 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 www.ambest.com. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion