Fitch Places The Doctors Company Group's Ratings on Rating Watch Positive.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- 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 on Rating Watch Positive the 'A-' Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings on The Doctor's Company, an Intercompany Insurance Exchange (Doctors) and its wholly owned insurance subsidiaries (see list below) collectively referred to as The Doctors Company Group (TDC TDC Top Dead Center TDC Time-to-Digital Converter TDC Tabular Data Control TDC Total Development Cost TDC Texas Department of Corrections TDC The Discovery Channel TDC Torpedo Data Computer TDC Theater Deployable Communications ). Fitch's Positive Rating Watch is heavily based on TDC's strong performance under Fitch's new economic capital model, Prism, under which the company's capital exceeds our standards for a 'AAA' level of confidence at year end 2006. The Rating Watch also reflects above-average underwriting performance and profitability relative to medical malpractice insurer peers, adequate loss reserve levels, and a highly experienced management team that employs a conservative operating strategy, focused on long-term underwriting profitability. TDC has an established reputation for being a leader in legislative and judicial reform in the medical malpractice market. Fitch also considered TDC's recent announcement that a definitive agreement was reached with SCPIE Holdings, Inc SCPIE Holdings, Inc is an American holding company whose subsidiaries specialize in physician liability insurance. It is based in Los Angeles, California and is listed in New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol SKP. History The precursor to SCPIE Holdings, Inc. (SCPIE SCPIE Southern California Physicians Insurance Exchange ) to acquire SCPIE for $281 million. TDC will pay $28.00 a share or approximately 27% premium over SCPIE's closing price on Monday. SCPIE is rated 'BBBq' under Fitch's Quantitative Insurer Financial Strength (Q-IFS) rating methodology. Fitch views the proposed acquisition as adding an element of uncertainty for TDC's ratings since its creates potential integration and execution risk. However, on balance Fitch ultimately believes the favorable ratings implications of TDC's Prism Score of 'AAA', as well as other noted improvements in its credit fundamentals, will likely offset the acquisition-related uncertainties, and that TDC's IFS rating will likely be upgraded to 'A'. A further analysis of SCPIE and its loss reserve position, coupled with a pro-forma capital adequacy analysis of the combined entities under Prism, is required for Fitch to resolve the Rating Watch. This review should be completed shortly. Doctors is a California domiciled reciprocal insurer with operating subsidiaries engaged in medical malpractice insurance. The company ranks among the top five U.S. writers of medical malpractice insurance. Founded in 1976, California-based TDC insures over 32,000 physicians and is endorsed by numerous medical societies. As of June 30, 2007, TDC reported $260 million of net premiums written, and shareholders equity of $781 million. TDC is licensed as an admitted carrier in 48 states, the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , and the Territory of Guam. Fitch has placed the 'A-' IFS ratings of the following TDC insurance subsidiaries on Positive Rating Watch: --The Doctors' Company an Intercompany Insurance Exchange; --Professional Underwriters Liability Insurance Company (PULIC); --Underwriter for the Professions Insurance Company (UPIC UPIC Universal Promotional Identification Code ); --Northwest Physicians Insurance Company (NPIC NPIC National Pesticide Information Center (formerly NPTN) NPIC National Passport Information Center NPIC National Photographic Interpretation Center NPIC National Photographic Intelligence Center ). Fitch also assigns an 'A-' IFS Rating, on Rating Watch Positive to: --OHIC Insurance Company (OHIC) 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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