S&P upgrades Zenith

S&P said it raised its financial strength and long-term counterparty credit ratings on Zenith Insurance Co. and ZNAT Insurance Co. to A- from BBB+.

The agency also raised its long-term counterparty credit rating on Zenith National Insurance Corp., the intermediate holding company for these two entities, to BBB- from BB+.

The outlook is stable.

Zenith is a wholly owned insurance subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.

"The upgrade reflects our decision to change the group status of Zenith within the Fairfax group to core from highly strategically important," S&P credit analyst John Iten said in a news release.

The change in group status reflects Zenith's substantially improved underwriting performance since its acquisition in 2010 and increased integration of Zenith's underwriting, investment and risk-management operations with the other Fairfax insurance entities', the agency said.

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