Fitch Affirms PartnerRe's Ratings; Outlook Stable.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. today 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 'AA' Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of Partner 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. Company (Partner Reinsurance). Fitch also affirmed the various ratings of Partner Reinsurance's parent company PartnerRe Ltd. (PartnerRe), including the 'AA-' Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ), as well as 'A' ratings assigned to PartnerRe's cumulative redeemable preferred securities and junior subordinated debt Subordinated Debt A loan (or security) that ranks below other loans (or securities) with regard to claims on assets or earnings. Also known as "junior security" or "subordinated loan". . The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch's very strong IDR and IFS ratings for Partner Reinsurance reflect the company's strong profitability, conservative investment strategy, reserve strength, low level of reinsurance recoverables and low reliance on retrocessional reinsurance. Additionally, Fitch believes Partner Reinsurance has relatively lower exposure to legacy issues such as asbestos asbestos, mineral asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. . Fitch also notes that as of year-end 2006, the company had grown its common equity book value per share (adjusted for common stock dividends) at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 17% since year-end 2001, despite suffering $900 million of catastrophe losses in 2005. Absent unusually large catastrophe losses, Fitch expects PartnerRe to post strong results through the remainder of 2007. Fitch's ratings also consider Partner Reinsurance's relatively higher exposure to low-frequency but high-severity events - an exposure highlighted by significant hurricane losses in 2005. Fitch views PartnerRe's rates of return on capital, as measured by return on average equity, over the past five years as comparable to a peer group of Bermuda-based reinsurance-focused underwriters, while the company's results have been somewhat less volatile over this time period. Fitch views PartnerRe's ability to maintain risk adjusted returns on capital at historical levels as key to maintaining its 'AA' rating. Fitch affirms the following individual ratings: Partner Reinsurance Company --Insurer Financial Strength affirmed at 'AA'; PartnerRe Ltd. --Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'AA-'; --$290 million 6.75% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred securities 'A'; --$230 million 6.5% series D cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred securities A'; --$250 million junior subordinated notes due Dec. 1, 2066 'A'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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