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  • S&P Upgrades American Equity Investent Life Holding & Ins. Cos

    August 13, 2015 by Bloomberg

    The following is a press release from Standard & Poor’s:

    — American Equity improved its capital above our ‘A’ target level
    through deleveraging and retaining earnings.
    — We are revising our financial risk profile on the company to strong
    from moderately strong and raising our ratings on the company to ‘A-‘ from
    ‘BBB+’.
    — The stable outlook reflects stronger capitalization, improved capital
    quality, and our expectation for continued strong operating performance in the
    fixed-annuity segment.

    NEW YORK (Standard & Poor’s) Aug. 5, 2015–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services
    said today that it raised its long-term counterparty credit and financial
    strength ratings on American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. to ‘A-‘ from
    ‘BBB+’ and its counterparty credit rating on holding company, American Equity
    Investment Life Holding Co., to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BB+’. The outlook is stable.

    “The upgrade is based on American Equity having strengthened its
    capital–primarily by deleveraging and growing retained earnings–to above our
    ‘A’ target level,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Beth Campbell. We
    expect the company to sustain capital at or above the current level during the
    next two-to-three years, and to fund its growth during the next two years
    largely from equity sources (including a recently announced common stock
    offering). Under our base-case scenario, we expect the company to continue to
    grow earnings while maintaining a leading position in the fixed-annuity market.

    We revised our financial risk profile on the company to strong from moderately
    strong. Capital strength is supported by strong and expanding earnings from
    its fixed-indexed annuity (FIA) -focused business, which is a market segment
    that has grown faster than the life insurance industry overall in recent years.

    Supporting the ratings are, in our view, American Equity’s adequate enterprise
    risk management (ERM) program, exceptional liquidity benefiting from
    relatively stable liabilities, and satisfactory management and governance
    practices. The moderate and evolving sophistication of its ERM appropriately
    reflects the company’s almost exclusive focus on fixed annuities.

    The outlook is stable. We expect American Equity to maintain a leading
    position in the fixed-annuity market and in FIAs in particular. We also expect
    the company to continue to grow profitably and sustain capital adequacy at our
    ‘A’ target level during the next two-to-three years. Under our base-case
    economic assumptions, we assume American Equity will generate generally
    accepted accounting principles operating income of $180 million to $190
    million this year. We also expect total financial leverage (debt plus hybrids
    to capital) to decline to the low-30% area, with fixed-charge coverage of more
    than 4x.

    We could lower the ratings if capital and earnings were to weaken such that
    capitalization deteriorates to our target ‘BBB’ confidence level for a
    protracted period of time.

    Further upside to the rating is unlikely. Even if capitalization were to
    improve to the ‘AA’ level, the company’s narrow product concentration limits
    our consideration of its business risk profile to satisfactory.

    RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
    — Methodology For Assessing Capital Charges For U.S. RMBS And CMBS
    Securities Held By Insurance Companies, Aug. 29, 2014
    — Group Rating Methodology, Nov. 19, 2013
    — Insurers: Rating Methodology, May 7, 2013
    — Enterprise Risk Management, May 7, 2013
    — Methodology: Management And Governance Credit Factors For Corporate
    Entities And Insurers, Nov. 13, 2012
    — Methodology For Assessing Capital Charges For Commercial Mortgage
    Loans Held By U.S. Insurance Companies, May 31, 2012
    — Refined Methodology And Assumptions For Analyzing Insurer Capital
    Adequacy Using The Risk-Based Insurance Capital Model, June 7, 2010
    — Use Of CreditWatch And Outlooks, Sept. 14, 2009
    — Hybrid Capital Handbook: September 2008 Edition, Sept. 15, 2008
    — Criteria: Insurance: Life: Liquidity, April 22, 2004

    Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect at
    www.globalcreditportal.com and at www.spcapitaliq.com. All ratings affected by
    this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor’s public Web site at
    www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left
    column.

    Primary Credit Analyst: Elizabeth A Campbell, New York (1) 212-438-2415;
    elizabeth.campbell@standardandpoors.com
    Secondary Contact: Donald H Chu, CFA, Toronto (1) 416-507-2506;
    donald.chu@standardandpoors.com

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    Copyright (c) 2015 by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC.
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    Stock Market Quotes, Business News, Financial News from http://www.ibloomberg.net

    Originally Posted at iBloomberg on August 5, 2015 by Bloomberg.

    Categories: Industry Articles
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