A.M. Best Assigns Ratings to National General Holdings Corporation and Its Forthcoming Senior Notes

A.M. Best has assigned an issuer credit rating of “bbb-” to National General Holdings Corporation (NGHC) (headquartered in New York, NY) [NASDAQ:NGHC]. Concurrently, A.M. Best has assigned a debt rating of “bbb-” up to an issuance of $250 million 6.75% senior unsecured notes due May 2024 to be issued by NGHC. The outlook assigned to both ratings is stable.

NGHC intends to use the net proceeds from this issuance to make a capital contribution to one or more of its property/casualty insurance companies. Based on the debt offering, NGHC’s adjusted debt-to-capital and adjusted debt-to-tangible capital ratios are approximately 25% and 29%, respectively. NGHC’s financial leverage and coverage ratios are within A.M. Best’s guidelines for the current rating level and are expected to remain so over the near term.

The methodology used in determining these ratings is Best’s Credit Rating Methodology, which provides a comprehensive explanation of A.M. Best’s rating process and contains the different rating criteria employed in the rating process. Best’s Credit Rating Methodology can be found at www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology.

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