S&P Affirms IPCRe’s ‘A+’ Ratings

Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its single-‘A’-plus counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on IPCRe Ltd. and revised its outlook on the Bermuda-based reinsurer to “stable” from “negative”.

S&P also affirmed its single-‘A’-plus financial strength rating on IPCRe Europe Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary.

“IPCRe Ltd. is a specialty property catastrophe reinsurer based in Bermuda. The revised outlook reflects the increase in the organization’s capital that resulted from the successful equity raise of $547 million by IPCRe’s parent, IPC Holdings Ltd. (IPC) in December 2001 as well as reported net loss exposure of $95 million relating to the World Trade Center tragedy. The amounts raised include $437 million from the public markets and $110 million from IPC’s initial sponsor and lead shareholder, American International Group Inc. (AIG),” said the announcement.

S&P indicated it expected IPCRe to take advantage of improving market conditions and to profitably build its aggregate exposures in 2002. It anticipates a healthy underwriting profit in 2002 under normalized catastrophe assumptions and an ROR of at least 30% for the year, with capital adequacy at or above 175%. “The company follows a conservative investment strategy and benefits from an experienced management team,” S&P concluded.