Ratings agency A.M. Best has downgraded
Sompo Japan
Canopius Reinsurance AG’s (SJC Re) long-term issuer credit rating to “a” from “a+”, while affirming its financial strength rating of A (excellent).
This comes after the announcement on September 1 that Sompo Canopius AG, SJC Re’s intermediate parent company, will be acquired by a Centerbridge Partners LP-led consortium.
According to A.M. Best, SJC Re’s ratings have historically benefited from its strategic importance to ultimate parent firm Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance (SJNKI). But the impending sale of SJC Re indicates that it is no longer strategically important to SJNKI, hence the downgrade.
A.M. Best added that the ratings currently have an “under review” status with implications revised to “negative”, due to the need to assess the impact the change in ownership will have on SJC Re’s financial strength. According to the agency, the status will be resolved once it is able to fully analyse SJC Re’s business plans under its new owners.
Domiciled in Switzerland, SJC Re underwrites third-party reinsurance business, mostly in the property & casualty segment, through a network of branches in Switzerland and Bermuda.
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