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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK, N.J. - OCTOBER 03, 2011 12:00 AM (EDT)
A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to C++ (Marginal) from B (Fair) and issuer credit rating to "b" from "bb" of Partners Mutual Insurance Company (Partners) (Waukesha, WI). The outlook for both ratings has been revised to negative from stable.
These rating actions reflect Partners' decline in its risk-adjusted capitalization as a result of the company reporting a loss to policyholder surplus of approximately 40% as of the second quarter of 2011, due to significant weather-related losses. The ratings also recognize Partners' trend of deteriorating underwriting performance, an elevated expense structure and geographic concentration of risks.
Offsetting these negative rating factors are Partners' long-standing agency relationships and strategies to improve underwriting results.
The principal methodology used in determining these ratings isBest's Credit Rating Methodology - Global Life and Non-Life Insurance Edition, which provides a comprehensive explanation of A.M. Best's rating process and highlights the different rating criteria employed. Additional key criteria utilized include: "Risk Management and the Rating Process for Insurance Companies"; "Catastrophe Risk Management Incorporated Within the Rating Analysis"; Understanding BCAR for Property/Casualty Insurers"; "Natural Catastrophe Stress Test Methodology"; and "Catastrophe Analysis in A.M. Best Ratings." Methodologies can be found at www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology.
Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.