Fitch Assigns White Mountains Re IDR of 'BBB+'; Sr. Unsec at 'BBB'.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'BBB+' 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. ) to White Mountains Re Group, Ltd. (White Mountains Re) a wholly owned holding company subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group White Mountains Insurance Group is a holding company with business interests in property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance. The group owns the direct marketing insurer Esurance. External links
See: New York Stock Exchange : WTM WTM World Travel Market (London) WTM World Tamil Movement WTM What's the Matter? WTM Windows Task Manager WTM Web, Trattamenti e Materiali (Italian) WTM Winner Takes Most WTM Wind Tunnel Model ) (White Mountains). Fitch has also assigned a 'BBB' rating to White Mountains Re's $400 million issue of unsecured senior notes due 2017. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The proceeds are expected to be distributed to White Mountains to repay $320 million of borrowings currently outstanding on White Mountains' and White Mountains Re's joint credit facility. White Mountains drew down on this facility in November 2006 as part of the IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. of OneBeacon Insurance Group OneBeacon Insurance Group offers a range of specialty and segmented commercial and personal insurance products sold primarily through select independent agents. As one of the oldest property and casualty insurers in the United States, OneBeacon traces its roots to 1831 and , Ltd. (OneBeacon) in order to provide for the full economic defeasement of the preferred stocks held by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Zenith Insurance Company that were originally issued as part of the financing of the OneBeacon acquisition in 2001. Fitch views White Mountains' leverage to be prudent with a proforma debt to total capital ratio of 19.4% at December 31, 2006, adjusted for the new senior debt issue, repayment of the credit facility borrowings and the preferred stock defeasance. Fitch expects White Mountains' consolidated financial leverage to remain conservative and in line with a debt to total capital ratio of 20-25% and consolidated GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). earnings coverage of 3-7 times(x). Fitch applies a group IDR approach separately to each of White Mountains' two separate core businesses, primary property/casualty insurance through OneBeacon and 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. through White Mountains Re. White Mountains Re primarily includes the operations of Folksamerica Reinsurance Company and Sirius International Insurance Corporation. The following ratings are assigned by Fitch with a Stable Rating Outlook: White Mountains Re Group, Ltd. --IDR at 'BBB+'; --Sr. Unsecured US$400 million due 2017 at 'BBB'. The following ratings remain unchanged by Fitch: White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. --IDR at 'BBB+'. Fund American Companies, Inc. --IDR at 'BBB+'; --US$700 million 5.9% due May 15, 2013 at 'BBB'. OneBeacon Insurance Group, including: American Central Insurance Company American Employers' Insurance Company Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company AutoOne Insurance Company AutoOne Select Insurance Company Camden Fire Insurance Association (The) Employers' Fire Insurance Company (The) Farmers and Merchants Insurance Company Homeland Insurance Company of New York Massachusetts Homeland Insurance Company Midwestern Insurance Company Northern Assurance Company of America (The) OneBeacon America Insurance Company OneBeacon Insurance Company OneBeacon Lloyd's of Texas OneBeacon Midwest Insurance Company Pennsylvania General Insurance Company Traders & General Insurance Company York Insurance Company of Maine --Insurer financial strength (IFS) at 'A'. Folksamerica Reinsurance Company --IFS at 'A-'. Sirius International Insurance Corporation --IFS at '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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