GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC.
Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'A' long-term rating to
The ratings previously assigned to GWO and its insurance operating subsidiaries are unaffected by today's action.
Key Rating Drivers
The rating assigned to the new senior unsecured notes is equivalent to the ratings assigned to GWO's existing senior unsecured notes and are rated one notch below GWO's 'A+' Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR), reflecting standard notching under Fitch's insurance rating criteria. Proceeds from the issuance are expected to be used for general corporate purposes. Fitch does not anticipate the new issuance will cause GWO to breach any downgrade sensitivities relating to financial leverage or fixed-charge coverage.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade:
A financial leverage ratio at or below 15%;
Fixed-charge coverage maintained above 10x;
Successful integration of the acquired retirement plan businesses in line with pricing expectations.
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:
Failure to reduce financial leverage toward historical levels of near 20%;
Material adverse deviation from management's expectations on the performance of the acquired retirement plan businesses;
A sustained drop in the company's risk-adjusted capital position;
Acquisitions outside of GWO's historical risk preferences or expertise, or any other material changes in the company's risk appetite;
A decline in fixed-charge coverage to less than 7.0x;
Reduction in
Best/Worst Case Rating Scenario
International scale credit ratings of Financial Institutions and Covered Bond issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction) of four notches over three years. The complete span of best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges from '
Date of Relevant Committee
REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING
The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.
ESG Considerations
Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit www.fitchratings.com/esg
(C) 2022 Electronic News Publishing, source
