PartnerRe Keeps ‘A+’ Rating

A.M. Best Co. affirmed the “A+” (Superior) group financial strength rating of Bermuda-based PartnerRe Group and its core subsidiaries, Partner Reinsurance Company Ltd. (Bermuda), Partner Reinsurance Company of the U.S., PartnerRe Insurance Company of New York and PartnerRe SA (Paris) with a stable outlook.

Best said the organization’s “superior management, underwriting and risk control of the overall operation” influenced the affirmation. Best pointed out that PartnerRe, a global multi-line reinsurance organization that offers diversified products internationally, had a shareholders’ equity of $1.9 billion as of September 30, 2002 and 2001 net premiums of $ 1.8 billion and that it ranks “among the top reinsurance companies in the world.”

Offsetting factors include “susceptibility to catastrophe exposure and the group’s modest use of retrocessional agreements, which subject PartnerRe to a higher degree of year-over-year variability.”