It is hereby communicated that today Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (‘Standard & Poor’s’), having taken note of the completion, effective from 1 September 2007, of the corporate reorganization plan of the Unipol Group and of the start of Unipol Gruppo Finanziario (‘UGF’), assigned its ‘A-’ insurer financial strength and long-term counterparty credit ratings to the new companies Unipol Assicurazioni S.p.A. and Aurora Assicurazioni S.p.A.. Outlook is stable. Standard & Poor’s also confirmed the ‘BBB’ rating to the subordinated debenture loans ‘Unipol 7% fixed/floater rate callable 2021’ and ‘Unipol 5.66% fixed/floater rate callable 2023’, issued by Unipol Assicurazioni in 2001 and 2003 respectively.
In this regard, we hereby reiterate that, from 1 September 2007, UGF’s obligation to repay these loans will be guaranteed by the aforementioned insurance companies. In its action, Standard & Poor’s, in the end, lowered the long-term counterparty credit rating on UGF from ‘A-’ to ‘BBB’, with stable outlook, having taken into account its transformation into holding. Annexed is the original press release issued by Standard & Poor’s.