5th Nov 2007 15:59
Beazley Group PLC05 November 2007 Beazley Group plc Plantation Place South60 Great TowerStreetLondon EC3R 5AD Tel: +44 (0)20 7667 0623Fax: +44 (0)20 7674 7100www.beazley.com Press Release Beazley Insurance Company Assigned 'A' Rating by A.M. Best Locally Underwritten U.S. Premiums Top $140 million London, November 5, 2007 Beazley Group plc (BEZ.L) is pleased to announce thatthe financial strength rating of Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., its admittedinsurance company in the United States, has been upgraded by A.M. Best from A-to A. Beazley acquired the company from Mutual of Omaha in March 2005 and the companyunderwrote its first policy in the U.S. admitted market in September 2005.Beazley Group plc was the first Lloyd's based insurance business to acquire anadmitted carrier licensed in all 50 states. Beazley Insurance Company's initial rating of A- was assigned in July 2005. Thecompany is supported by quota share reinsurance provided by Beazley's managedsyndicates at Lloyd's, which are also rated A by A.M. Best. Announcing theupgrade, A.M. Best cited "the solid risk-adjusted capitalization" of BeazleyInsurance Company, "derived from a sound business plan, which includes fulloperational integration into Beazley Group plc." Separately, Beazley announced that, as of October 31, the group's U.S. underwriters have written gross premium of $144 million, up from $68.9 million for all of2006. This includes $90 million of admitted market premium underwritten for theaccount of Beazley Insurance Company and $54 million of premium written in thenon-admitted market for the account of Beazley's Lloyd's syndicates. In light ofthis strong performance, we have raised our full year premium target from our USoperations, from $150 million to in excess of $165 million. Beazley Chief Executive Officer Andrew Beazley said "We established a local presence in the United States to access middle marketand small scale business that has not historically come to London. We thoughtthere was a gap in the market - a demand from brokers and their clients for moreexperienced underwriters to provide a more responsive service. "It looks like we were right. Although competition has been intensifying in manyof the markets we target, our locally underwritten U.S. business as a whole hasgained strong traction. In addition to highly experienced underwriters, we havealso invested heavily in high calibre claims expertise and we believe this willstrengthen our value proposition still further. "A.M. Best's recognition of the financial and management strength of our U.S.admitted carrier should provide further support to our U.S. growth strategy." ENDS For further information, please contact: Beazley Group plcAndrew HortonT +44 (0)20 7674 7003 Note to Editors: Beazley has been underwriting U.S. business through its Lloyd's syndicates inLondon for more than 20 years and continues to write the majority of its U.S.business in London. Beazley Group, plc (BEZ.L) based in London, is the parent company of global,specialist insurance businesses with operations in the UK, US, France, Singaporeand Hong Kong. Beazley manages two Lloyd's syndicates (Syndicate 2623 andSyndicate 623) with aggregate underwriting capacity in 2007 of £860m (US$1.7bn).Both syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best. In the US, Beazley's underwritersfocus on writing specialist insurance products in the admitted market, backed byBeazley Insurance Company, Inc., an admitted carrier in all 50 states; andsurplus lines risks, backed by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd's. BeazleyInsurance Company is rated A by A.M. Best. Beazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines including professionalindemnity, commercial property, marine, reinsurance, and personal lines. For more information please go to: www.beazley.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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