Moody’s gives A3 to ACE INA notes

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned an A3 rating to ACE INA Holdings, Inc.’s proposed $5.3 billion senior unsecured note offering, which is unconditionally guaranteed by ACE Ltd.

The notes – to be issued in tranches of varying maturities – are being issued under the company's recently filed shelf registration (provisional senior unsecured debt rated provisional A3), which supersedes the company's prior shelf.

ACE intends to use net proceeds to partially fund the acquisition of Chubb Corp., together with $9 billion of available liquidity between the two companies and about $14 billion of newly issued shares.

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2016 and both ACE and Chubb shareholders approved the transaction on Oct. 22.

Moody's also affirmed the existing debt ratings of ACE INA and ACE Capital Trust II.

The outlooks are stable.

"ACE INA's debt ratings reflect the group's franchise strength with a diversified international spread of risk, strong profitability, as well as its operating and financial leverage profile, pro forma for the transaction. We view the pending addition of Chubb's robust U.S.-based franchise as positioning the combined group with a market-leading platform across commercial, specialty and high-end personal lines operations, with exceptional product depth and breadth," Alan Murray, Moody's lead analyst for ACE, said in a news release.

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