AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Prism Assurance, Ltd. (Prism) (Burlington, VT). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect Prism's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).
The stable outlooks reflect AM Best's expectation that the captive insurer will maintain its very strong level of balance sheet strength and adequate operating performance supported by risk-adjusted capitalization at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), steady streams of income from intangible assets and the execution of prudent risk management strategies. Further, Prism also has sufficient liquidity supported by the company's ability to call on its loan-back to the parent, in addition to the financial flexibility afforded through the parent company, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (Apogee) (NASDAQ:APOG), if needed.
As a single parent captive, Prism inherently benefits from a low expense structure/ratio with minimal distribution, driving an expense ratio that is much lower than that of traditional commercial insurers. There is manageable volatility in the company's underwriting performance from the low frequency, high severity type claims it was established to cover. The parent contributes trademarks and associated royalty income to the captive in addition to interest from the parent loan-back to provide a steady stream of net investment income. Profitability metrics in terms of return on revenue, return on equity, and return on invested assets far exceed industry averages on both five- and 10-year terms.
Prism is the single-parent captive insurance company of Apogee, one of the largest architectural design and construction companies in the United States. AM Best assesses Prism's business profile as limited as the company provides very specific lines of coverage to Apogee, although its risks do have a level of geographic diversification, reflecting the scope of the parent's operations. As a captive, Prism is an integral component of the Apogee organization's overall risk management capability and awareness. The company is interwoven into Apogee's ERM program, and as a result, Prism displays excellent risk identification and mitigation processes. Prism works cohesively with business units across the overall organization to reduce claims severity and frequency.
Negative rating impact could occur if a deterioration of Prism's operating performance leads to a material loss of risk-adjusted capitalization or if AM Best's perception of the parent's ability and willingness to support the captive materially declines. Positive rating action, although unlikely in the near term, could occur due to a sustained trend of improvement in the company's operating performance.
AM Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the United States and throughout the world. For current Best's Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
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