S&P Lowers Millers Insurance Co Rtgs to 'CCCpi'.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's Dec. 23, 2002-- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Ratings Service A company, such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's, that rates various debt and preferred stock issues for safety of payment of principal, interest, or dividends. today said it lowered its counterparty Counterparty The other participant, including intermediaries, in a swap or contract. credit and financial strength ratings on The Millers Insurance Co. (Millers) to 'CCCpi' from 'Bpi'. It also said it withdrew its 'Bpi' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Millers Casualty Insurance Co., a former inter-affiliate pool member of Millers, because the two companies have merged. "The rating action reflects very low capitalization ratios Capitalization ratios Also called financial leverage ratios, these ratios compare debt to total capitalization and thus reflect the extent to which a corporation is trading on its equity. and surplus base, high one-year loss development, and very weak earnings and liquidity," observed credit analyst Alan Koerber. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript (1) In word processing and scientific notation, a digit or symbol that appears below the line; for example, H2O, the symbol for water. Contrast with superscript. (2) In programming, a method for referencing data in a table. are insurer financial strength ratings based on an analysis of an insurer's published financial information and additional information in the public domain. They do not reflect in-depth meetings with an insurer's management and are therefore based on less comprehensive information than ratings without a 'pi' subscript. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript are reviewed annually based on a new year's financial statements, but may be reviewed on an interim basis if a major event that may affect the insurer's financial security occurs. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript are not subject to potential CreditWatch listings. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript generally are not modified with "plus" or "minus" designations. However, such designations may be assigned when the insurer's financial strength rating is constrained con·strain tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains 1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. 2. by sovereign risk Sovereign Risk The risk that a foreign central bank will alter its foreign-exchange regulations thereby significantly reducing or completely nulling the value of foreign-exchange contracts. or the credit quality of a parent company or affiliated group. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Fixed Income in the left navigation bar A set of buttons or graphic images typically in a row or column used as a central point that link you to major topic sections on a Web site. If the navigation bar is a single graphic image with multiple selections, it is known as an imagemap. See imagemap. , select Credit Ratings Actions. Copyright 2002, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services |
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