S&P BULLETIN: S&P Asgns AA/A-1+ to Post-Merger Mitsui Sumitomo Ins.Business EditorsTOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's Oct. 1, 2001--Standard & Poor's today assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. its double-'A' insurer financial strength and long-term counterparty Counterparty The other participant, including intermediaries, in a swap or contract. credit ratings and 'A-1'-plus short-term credit rating to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. (MSI MSI: see integrated circuit. (1) (MicroSoft Installer) See Windows Installer. (2) (Medium Scale Integration) Between 100 and 3,000 transistors on a chip. See SSI, LSI, VLSI and ULSI. ).The outlook on the long-term counterparty credit rating is negative. At the same time, Standard & Poor's withdrew its ratings on Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. (see list below). MSI was formed through the merger of Mitsui Marine and Sumitomo Marine. The ratings on MSI are based on an excellent market position inherited inherited received by inheritance. inherited achondroplastic dwarfism see achondroplastic dwarfism. inherited combined immunodeficiency see combined immune deficiency syndrome (disease). from Mitsui Marine and Sumitomo Marine, formerly two leading Japanese nonlife insurers, and its solid financial profile characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. by very strong capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. and good quality assets. Moderating factors include the competitive environment of the Japanese nonlife sector, and some uncertainties over the success of the merger given the accelerating consolidations of other major peers in the sector. Excellent business position. Combining the excellent business position and market franchise of both Mitsui Marine and Sumitomo Marine, MSI is currently the second-largest nonlife insurer in Japan behind Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., with approximately 17% of the domestic market based on March 2001 figures. However, MSI will become the third-largest nonlife insurer after Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd., Nissan Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd., and Taisei Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. merge to form Sompo Japan in April 2002. MSI is expected to maintain its extensive distribution networks and strong brand name as the integration of other Mitsui-Sumitomo group financial companies proceeds. Strong capitalization. MSI is expected to maintain the strong capitalization it inherited from its predecessors. The current level of capitalization is sufficient to offset recent volatility in the domestic equity market as well as continuous competition-driven earnings pressures. Uncertain operating performance. Given the relatively weak combined ratio of Mitsui Marine over the past couple of years and the very challenging operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. for domestic nonlife insurers, there is some uncertainty over the operating performance of the merged entity. While both Sumitomo Marine and Mitsui Marine have recorded strong growth so far in fiscal 2001, whether MSI will be able to achieve the goals set for the merger remains uncertain, although the company is expected to benefit from increased economies of scale to some degree. Good asset quality. MSI is expected to maintain the good asset quality and liquidity received from its predecessors, and will continue to focus on maintaining a diversified diversified (di·verˑ·s and sound asset portfolio, characterized by good quality assets. OUTLOOK: NEGATIVE The outlook reflects the difficult industry environment facing MSI. Rapid deterioration de·te·ri·o·ra·tion n. The process or condition of becoming worse. in the company's operating environment and the weakening weak·en tr. & intr.v. weak·ened, weak·en·ing, weak·ens To make or become weak or weaker. weak  en·er n. Japanese economy could have a negative impact on the ratings
on MSI.
RATINGS ASSIGNED Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rating AA/Negative/A-1+ Fincl str rtg AA RATINGS WITHDRAWN Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rating AA/Negative/A-1+ Fincl str rtg AA Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. Counterparty credit rating AA/Negative/-- Fincl str rtg AA |
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