A.M. Best Withdraws Ratings of Gateway Rivers Insurance Company

A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A-(Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of Gateway Rivers Insurance Company (Gateway) (Dallas, TX). The outlook for both ratings is stable.

The rating actions follow the regulatory approval that finalized the merger between Gateway and Palm Insurance Company (Palm). Palm is a Hawaii-domiciled single parent captive of DIRECTV, which was acquired by AT&T Inc. [NYSE: T] in July 2015. Gateway is the surviving entity. Concurrently, A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings in response to the company’s request to no longer participate in A.M. Best’s interactive rating process.

The ratings and outlook reflect Gateway’s strong capitalization, comprehensive risk management and historically favorable operating results, providing insurance coverage to subsidiaries of AT&T Inc. for certain property/casualty risks. The ratings also consider the company’s critical role and favorable profile as part of the AT&T Inc. organization.

Partially offsetting these positive rating factors are Gateway’s exposure, albeit small, to Palm’s unseasoned business and Gateway’s relatively large limits on its property lines of business. Nevertheless, A.M. Best recognizes the relatively small size of Palm and the substantial financial resources of the AT&T Inc. organization.

A.M. Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the United States and throughout the world. For current Best’s Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.

This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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