M&M Off Of S&P CreditWatch
NU Online News Service, March 25, 3:42 p.m. EST?Standard & Poor's Rating Services said it took Marsh & McLennan Cos. ratings off the CreditWatch status where they had been placed since Oct. 15, 2004, citing "recent favorable developments" at the firm.[@@]
The ratings agency affirmed its "triple-B" counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings, as well as "A-2" commercial paper ratings, of Marsh & McLennan. The ratings outlook, however, is "Negative."
These ratings were removed from the CreditWatch status, S&P said, because of a number of positive developments at MMC. They include a nationwide structuring of settlement with the New York State attorney general and the New York State insurance superintendent, as well as the firm's 2004 fourth-quarter results that met S&P's expectations.
S&P also looked favorably at the firm's management team, which, the ratings agency noted, is proactively implementing a new business model and is also appropriately focused on employee and client retention.
Still, MMC faces many uncertainties, such as risks associated with adopting a new business model, ongoing regulatory investigations that can hamper the firm's competitive position, and concerns surrounding employee and client retention, S&P said.
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