A.M. Best Assigns Ratings to Omega Specialty Insurance Company Limited; Assigns ICR to Omega Underwriting Holdings Plc.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating (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-" to Omega Specialty Insurance Company Limited (OSIL), a newly formed Bermudian insurer. At the same time, A.M. Best has assigned an ICR of "bbb" to OSIL's ultimate parent, Omega Underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. Holdings Plc (Omega) (United Kingdom). The outlook for all ratings is stable. The ratings of OSIL reflect its excellent prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation n. 1. same as capitalization. Noun 1. capitalisation - writing in capital letters capitalization writing - letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language; "he turned the paper , strong expected performance and strong business profile linked to its ultimate parent company, Omega, and its Lloyd's operation (Lloyd's Syndicate 958). A.M. Best anticipates that the combination of a 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. of Omega Dedicated Limited (Omega's corporate member at Lloyd's) and a whole account reinsurance of syndicate 958 will initially generate over 90% of OSIL's business. A.M. Best believes that OSIL is likely to maintain excellent risk-adjusted capitalisation, factoring its achievable and conservative objectives in its early years of operation. OSIL's links to the Omega group (which obtained a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market in April 2005) will provide the company with additional financial flexibility should the need arise. A.M. Best believes OSIL is likely to write a highly profitable portfolio of business based on syndicate 958's excellent long-term track record. A.M. Best forecasts an excellent return on capital employed Return on capital employed (ROCE) Indicator of profitability of the firm's capital investments. Determined by dividing Earnings Before Interest and Taxes by (capital employed plus short-term loans minus intangible assets). , factoring a loss ratio of below 65% at year-end 2006. This is supported by the strengthening market for many of the classes written by OSIL (particularly in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ), of which non-marine property (43% of 2006 estimated gross written premium), property catastrophe (20%) and property per-risk (15%) represent the core of the portfolio. 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 www.ambest.com/ratings. 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. |
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