S&P Notes Coregis Insurance Co. Ratings Raised to ‘A+’, off Watch; Outlook Negative

Standard & Poor’s raised its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Illinois-based Coregis Insurance Co. to ‘A+’ from ‘A’ and removed the ratings from CreditWatch.
The outlook is negative.

The rating action follows the recent agreement by Employers Reinsurance Corp. (ERC; A+/Negative/–) to guarantee the policyholder obligations of Coregis. The guarantee is strong enough in Standard & Poor’s view to allow for the equalization of the ratings on Coregis with those on ERC.

Outlook

Coregis’s book of business is expected to be smaller in 2004 and 2005 as a result of Argonaut Group Inc.’s (BB+/Negative/–) recent agreement to acquire the renewal rights to Coregis’s public entity insurance book of business. The ratings on Coregis are expected to be the same as the ones on ERC, going forward, as the strength of the guaranty from ERC more than offsets the decrease in Coregis’s scale of operations. Ratings List To FromCoregis Insurance Co. Counterparty credit rating A+/Negative/– A/WatchPos/– Financial strength rating A+/Negative A/WatchPos.