Fitch Ratings Affirms SCA, XLCA & XLFA on XL Secondary Offering Announcement.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 affirms the 'AAA' insurer financial strength (IFS) ratings of primary financial guarantor XL Capital Assurance Inc. (XLCA XLCA Xl Capital Assurance, Inc. ) and its 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. affiliate XL Financial Assurance Ltd (XLFA) (see full list of ratings below). The affirmation comes after XL Capital Ltd's (XL) announcement today of a secondary offering of Security Capital Assurance Ltd (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :SCA (Single Connector Attachment) An 80-pin plug and socket used to connect peripherals. With a SCSI drive, it rolls three cables (power, data channel and ID configuration) into one connector for fast installation and removal. ) shares. SCA is the holding company of XLCA and XLFA. The Rating Outlook for all entities is Stable. After the secondary offering, XL's economic interest in SCA will be reduced from 63% to 47.5%. XL will retain the right to nominate four of the nine SCA directors, but its voting rights on all matters will be limited to its economic interest. Previously, XL retained a 50.1% voting majority in the matter of electing board directors and 47.5% of the voting control on all other matters submitted to the board. Fitch believes that the additional reduction to XL's economic interest and board control is a positive step for SCA in the direction of increased independence from XL. Although XL remains heavily influential in SCA governance, after the secondary offering XL will not have majority control over elections to SCA's board. Further, SCA's board will retain its independent majority. Fitch believes these developments are effectively creating the potential for greater separation between the ratings of XL and SCA's financial guaranty subsidiaries. SCA is a Bermuda domiciled holding company whose primary operating subsidiaries, XLCA and XLFA, provide insurance, reinsurance, and financial products and services throughout the United States and internationally. For March 31, 2007, the company reported consolidated GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). assets of $2.6 billion and shareholders equity of approximately $1.4 billion. On an aggregated basis net par outstanding totaled $128 billion as of March 31, 2007. Fitch affirms the following ratings with a Stable Outlook: XL Capital Assurance Inc. XL Financial Assurance Ltd XL Capital Assurance (U.K.) Limited --Insurer financial strength at 'AAA'. Twin Reefs-Pass Through Trust --Long-term debt rating at 'AA'. Security Capital Assurance Ltd --Fixed/floating series A perpetual non-cumulative preference shares 'AA-'; 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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