A.M. Best Co. said Wednesday that it had assigned a financial strength rating of A-plus and an issuer credit rating of aa-minus to the members of the newly formed pool, St. Paul Travelers Insurance Cos.
The Oldwick, N.J., rating company acted after St. Paul Travelers announced that it has combined the St. Paul and Travelers pools, forming a single pool as of July 1 and retroactive to Jan. 1. It also merged Gulf Insurance Co., the lead company of the former Gulf Insurance Group in New York, with Travelers Indemnity Co., the lead company of the new pool. The outlook for all ratings remains stable.
The 28 participants in the new pool, 17 reinsured affiliates, and Travelers Casualty and Surety of America are the 46 members of A.M. Best's new rating unit.
The pooling agreement prompted A.M. Best to upgrade the financial strength ratings from A and the issuer credit ratings from "a" for the 18 members of the former St. Paul Cos. and affirm the A-plus and aa-minus ratings of the 24 members in the former Travelers Property Casualty pool. The four members of the former Gulf group were upgraded from A-minus and a-minus, respectively.
In addition, A.M. Best affirmed the debt ratings of a-minus on senior debt, bbb-plus on subordinated debt, bbb on trust-preferred securities, bbb on preferred stock, and AMB-1 on commercial paper for St. Paul Travelers and its subsidiaries.
