Moody's gives ING U.S. notes Baa3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 senior debt rating with a stable outlook to the $400 million 30-year senior notes issued in a Rule 144A private placement by ING U.S., Inc.

The notes are guaranteed by Lion Connecticut Holdings, Inc., a wholly owned intermediate holding company of ING U.S. that directly owns most of the ING U.S. life insurance companies. Both ING U.S. and Lion Connecticut and their affiliates are all indirectly majority-owned (e.g., 71%) subsidiaries of ING Groep, NV.

Proceeds from the notes will be used to pay down outstanding intercompany debt.

Moody's said the Baa3 guaranteed senior debt rating is based on an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee by Lion Connecticut. Because of the structural subordination of ING U.S.' obligations to those of Lion Connecticut, ING U.S.' senior debt rating would be a notch lower (Ba1) without the Lion Connecticut guarantee.

The new senior debt issuance capped an active period of capital markets activity for ING U.S., during which it overhauled most of its capital structure, the agency said.

"With this final issuance, ING U.S. has replaced the vast majority of inter-company loans with public debt and equity, in line with our expectations for a public company," Moody's vice president Laura Bazer said in a news release.

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