A.M. Best Co. downgraded the financial strength rating to “B (Fair)” from “A-minus (Excellent)” and issuer credit rating to “bb” from “a-minus” of Lehman Re Limited of Hamilton, Bermuda. The outlook for both ratings is negative.

Lehman Re is a wholly owned reinsurance subsidiary of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. The Oldwick, N.J.-based insurance rating service said the bankruptcy action prompted the rating action.

Best explained that while Lehman Re is not included in the bankruptcy petition, it believes that the pending reorganization of Lehman Brothers could have a significant adverse impact on Lehman Re because the balance sheet of Lehman Brothers would be a source of capital for Lehman Re, if needed.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.