Fitch Places Ohio Casualty on Rating Watch Negative After Acquisition Announcement.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. has placed the following Ohio Casualty Corporation (OCAS OCAS abbr. Organization of Central American States OCAS n abbr (= Organization of Central American States) → ODECA f OCAS n abbr (= ) ratings on Rating Watch Negative: Ohio Casualty Corporation: --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. ) 'BBB+'; --7.30% senior notes due June 15, 2014 'BBB'. Ohio Casualty Group (see full list below) --Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) 'A'. Fitch's rating action follows OCAS's announcement that the company has entered into a definitive agreement with Liberty Mutual Group (LMG LMG Light Machine Gun LMG Laurence M. Gould (Antarctic Research Support Vessel, USAP) LMG Local Marketing Group LMG Loaf's Merry Guild LMG Laboratory Molecular Genetics LMG Liquid Methane Gas ) under which LMG will acquire all outstanding shares of OCAS common stock. Fitch rates LMG's IDR at 'BBB', senior unsecured notes at 'BBB-', and IFS at 'A-'. Fitch affirmed its ratings on LMG and revised its Rating Outlook on the company to Stable from Positive (on May 7, 2007) in response to the transaction's announcement. The rating action reflects Fitch's concerns about the execution and operational risks associated with the transaction. Additionally, Fitch views the transaction's potential effect on OCAS' 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. practices and profitability as uncertain. The company's improving underwriting profitability was a key factor underlying Fitch's September 2006 decision to upgrade OCAS' ratings one notch. Fitch plans to resolve the Rating Watch upon further discussions with OCAS management. The following ratings have been placed on Rating Watch Negative: Ohio Casualty Corporation --Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'BBB+'; --$200 million 7.3% senior notes due June 15, 2014 'BBB'. Ohio Casualty Group: The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company West American Insurance Company American Fire and Casualty Company Ohio Security Insurance Company Avomark Insurance Company --Insurer financial strength '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. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion