Best Affirms MAPFRE RE FSR; Downgrades ICR; Off Review; Negative Outlook

and affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) of MAPFRE RE, Compania de Reaseguros, S.A, a key subsidiary of MAPFRE S.A. (both domiciled in Spain), the ultimate holding company of the MAPFRE Group.

Best also, announced that all of the ratings have been removed from under review with negative implications and assigned a negative outlook.

As Best announced in conjunction with these current rating actions, they follow a series of actions taken last December to address the implications for euro zone insurers. Generally it changed the outlook on the ratings, including MAPFRE Re’s, to negative from stable, while it carried out a more extensive review.

Best explained that the rating actions “consider the higher country risk faced by MAPFRE RE and MAPFRE S.A. (the consolidated group), due to the deterioration in the sovereign creditworthiness of Spain. In particular, the downgrading of the ICR of MAPFRE RE is driven by the assessment of the consolidated group’s financial strength.”

MAPFRE S.A. maintains significant investments in the peripheral euro zone economies, with Spanish debt accounting for 53 percent of the consolidated group’s

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