Moody's rates Old Mutual debt Baa2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa2 rating to Old Mutual plc's lower tier two subordinated debt issue and placed the rating on review for possible downgrade, in line with all of the ratings in the Old Mutual Group, pending the final outcome of the proposed acquisition of the Skandia Group.

The Baa2 debt rating reflects the subordinated nature of the instrument relative to policyholders and senior creditors across the group. In particular, Moody's noted that the rating reflected the current priority of claim in liquidation, which is such that all regulatory capital issued or guaranteed by Old Mutual plc currently ranks pari passu with the $750 million perpetual preferred securities (rated Baa2).

In the event that the existing $750 million perpetual preferred securities were no longer in existence, allowing a more conventional ranking of Old Mutual's regulatory capital, Moody's said it would expect to narrow the rating gap between this instrument and the group's senior debt to one notch.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.