Litigation

When one company acquires a "safeco" your first inclination is that this is a good thing.

Purportedly under pressure over its reaction time in the current financial crisis apparently Standard & Poors doesn't feel that way. Last week Standard & Poors lowered its ratings of the Liberty Mutual group of companies from A(Excellent) to A-(Excellent).

Liberty Mutual issued this immediate response to the Standard & Poors action.

Liberty Mutual is the 6th largest P&C insurance company in the United States and has been in business since the year the Titanic sank, 1912, survived 2 World Wars and became the leading  writer of worker's compensation insurance in 1936. In addition to the SAFECO acquisition, in the past decade Liberty has acquired the personal lines P&C arms of Prudential Financial in 47 states, One Beacon, MetLife's Spanish The company has extensive international operations in London,  Spain, Turkey, Vietnam, China, Colombia, Venezuela, Singapore, Hong Long, Phillipines. Its life insurance arm that issues structured settlement annuities, Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston was established in 1964. Its structured settlement program was the first to offer a non qualified assignment facility through BARCO Assignments, Ltd.