Ratings Roundup: AmCOMP, Alliant

AmCOMP Assurance Corporation and AmCOMP Preferred Insurance Company have each earned a Financial Stability Rating® (FSR) of ‘A,’ Exceptional, from Demotech, Inc. “This level of FSR is assigned to insurers who possess exceptional financial stability related to maintaining positive surplus as regards policyholders, liquidity of invested assets, an acceptable level of financial leverage, reasonable loss and loss adjustment expense reserves and realistic pricing,” said the announcement.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its recovery rating of ‘2’ to Alliant Holdings Inc.’s (Alliant; B-/Stable/–) $385 million senior secured term loan B due 2014 and its $60 million revolving credit facility due 2013. “The ‘2’ recovery rating indicates that the lenders can expect substantial (70 percent-90 percent) recovery of principal in the event of payment default,” S&P explained. The bulletin also indicated that as a result of this rating action, S&P has “also raised the issue rating on these two facilities to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, one notch higher than the counterparty credit rating,” noted credit analyst Tracy Dolin. “These rating actions reflect Standard & Poor’s review of a simulated default scenario that contemplates a payment default resulting from financial pressures due to Alliant’s increased financial leverage and weakened fixed-charge coverage following its acquisition by The Blackstone Group,” S&P concluded.