S&P Assigns Liberty Insurance Holdings Intercompany Pool Members ‘A’ Rating

Standard & Poor’s has assigned its ‘A’ counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to the nine companies that constitute the Liberty Insurance Holdings Intercompany Pool (LIH Pool, formerly known as the Peerless Intercompany Pool).

The rating action reflects the strategic importance of these companies to Liberty Mutual Group Inc. (Liberty Mutual), LIH Pool’s historically favorable underwriting results, and strong stand alone capital adequacy.

The LIH Pool constitutes about two-thirds of the revenues of Liberty Mutual’s Regional Agency Market (RAM) strategic business unit. RAM in turn constituted about 18 percent of Liberty Mutual’s 2002 consolidated revenues and has been the group’s most rapidly growing strategic business unit for the past two years. RAM’s premium growth during this period has benefited from the acquisition of a large book of business formerly written by OneBeacon Insurance Co., a subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group Inc.

RAM was formed in 1997 as part of Liberty Mutual’s strategy of expanding its distribution network beyond its own direct sales force to include independent agents and brokers. The LIH Pool was acquired in 1999 when Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (LMIC) purchased these companies from Guardian Royal Exchange. The LIH Pool companies are owned by Liberty Insurance Holdings Inc., which in turn is wholly owned by LMIC.

Outlook

The outlook on the members of LIH is stable. Going forward, these ratings and the assigned outlook will move in tandem with the financial strength ratings on the members of the Liberty Mutual Intercompany Pool.Ratings List Peerless Insurance Co.Peerless Indemnity Insurance Co.Indiana Insurance Co.Netherlands Insurance Co.America First Insurance Co.Consolidated Insurance Co.Excelsior Insurance Co.Midwestern Indemnity Co.Hawkeye-Security Insurance Co. Counterparty credit rating A/Stable/– Financial strength rating A/Stable.