S&P Rates Gerling Life Reinsurance 'A-'; Otlk Stable.Business Editors LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 2003 Standard & Poor's--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'A-' long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Cologne-based life reinsurer re·in·sure tr.v. re·in·sured, re·in·sur·ing, re·in·sures To insure again, especially by transferring all or part of the risk in a contract to a new contract with another insurance company. Gerling Life 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. GmbH (GLR GLR Great Lakes Region GLR Global Learning Resources, Inc (Fremont, CA) GLR Greater London Radio GLR Generalized Likelihood Ratio GLR Glare GLR Gaylord, Michigan (Airport Code) ). The outlook is stable. GLR is the parent and operating company operating company A business that engages in transactions with outsiders. of the recently established GLR group, which comprises the life reinsurance operations of Gerling-Konzern Globale Ruckversicherungs-AG (GKG GKG Gabah Kering Giling ; SD/--/--). The business, assets, and liabilities of GLR were created via a transfer of GKG's life reinsurance business by means of an interim 100% quota-share reinsurance agreement (to be followed by novations of the original treaties) and a transfer of the majority of GKG's dedicated life subsidiaries. On Sept. 12, 2003, GKG completed the fiduciary sale of GLR to VHV VHV Vereinigte Hannoversche Versicherungen (German insurance) VHV Village Health Volunteers VHV Veterans Helping Veterans (Marion County, Florida) Vermogensanlage AG (VHV), a subsidiary of German non-life mutual VHV Vereinigte Hannoversche Versicherung aG. Under the terms of this agreement, GKG will remain as the beneficial owner Beneficial Owner A person who enjoys the benefits of ownership even though title is in another name. Notes: For example, when shares of a mutual fund are held by a custodian bank or when securities are held by a broker in street name, the true owner is the beneficial of GLR. However, by interposing an independent third party that has both a fiduciary obligation and a strong economic incentive to protect GLR's interests, this agreement is expected -- on the basis of independent legal opinion -- to successfully ringfence GLR from GKG, pending the identification of a long-term strategic partner for GLR. "The ratings reflect GLR's very strong capitalization, good underlying operating performance, and strong business position," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Peter Grant. "The ratings are constrained by uncertainty surrounding GLR's long-term ownership and the impact that the recent events at GKG may have on GLR's business position, particularly over the short to medium term." The ratings apply to GLR alone and not to its operating subsidiaries, whose status under Standard & Poor's group ratings methodology is currently being assessed. Standard & Poor's expects to have finalized its review by the end of September 2003. The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's expectation that GLR will be able to reinvigorate its franchise over the medium term. An upgrade would be contingent on Adj. 1. contingent on - determined by conditions or circumstances that follow; "arms sales contingent on the approval of congress" contingent upon, dependant on, dependant upon, dependent on, dependent upon, depending on, contingent GLR's ability to demonstrate the resilience of its business position, successful completion of the planned rebranding of GLR, the novation The substitution of a new contract for an old one. The new agreement extinguishes the rights and obligations that were in effect under the old agreement. A novation ordinarily arises when a new individual assumes an obligation to pay that was incurred by the original party of business from GKG, and receipt of the remaining regulatory approvals to complete the establishment of the GLR group. ANALYST E-MAIL ADDRESSES peter_grant@standardandpoors.com rob_jones@standardandpoors.com InsuranceInteractive_Europe@standardandpoors.com 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 Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Credit Ratings Actions. Alternatively, call one of Standard & Poor's Ratings Desks: London (44) 20-7847-7400; Paris (33) 1-4420-6705; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-223; or Stockholm (46) 8-440-5916. Members of the media may contact the Press Office Hotline on (44) 20-7826-3605 or via media_europe@standardandpoors.com. Copyright 2003, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services |
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