S&P Assigns ‘A’ Rating to Atradius Re

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has assigned its “A” long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Ireland-based reinsurer Atradius Reinsurance Ltd. (Atradius Re; formerly NCM Reinsurance Ltd.), “a core entity of the Atradius group.” The outlook is stable.

“More than 90 percent of Atradius Re’s estimated gross premium income of 636 million euros [$785 million] at Dec. 31, 2003, comes from the reinsurance of credit insurance written by the Atradius group companies,” said S&P. “It is therefore viewed as a core entity of the group. Atradius Re is intended to be the only reinsurance carrier of the Atradius group from 2005. The reinsurance business of its sister company, Luxembourg-based Namur Re S.A. (Namur Re; A/Stable/–), which also underwrites some third-party reinsurance, will gradually be transferred to Atradius Re during 2004.”

S&P credit analyst Tatiana Grineva indicated that the rating agency “expects Atradius Re to be capitalized adequately according to Standard & Poor’s methodology, and consistently with its core status, and that third-party business will not exceed 10 percent of Atradius Re’s overall gross premium income following the transfer of Namur Re.”

The ratings on Namur Re will be withdrawn following the intended transfer of its assets and liabilities to Atradius Re.