Scottish Re Group Ltd. has completed a previously announced effort to sell $600 million in stock to a pair of major investors.
The buyers, who now have a controlling stake in Scottish Re, are MassMutual Capital Partners L.L.C., an affiliate of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, Mass., and a group of affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management L.P., New York, a private investment firm.
Scottish Re is one of the largest U.S. life reinsurers.
Rating agencies are welcoming news that the stock sale has been completed.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, New York, raised the counterparty credit rating on Scottish Re, Hamilton, Bermuda,, to B plus, from B, and removed the company from CreditWatch with developing implications. S&P also raised the counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Scottish Re's operating companies as well as its ratings on dependent unwrapped securitized deals to BB plus, from BB, and removed those ratings from CreditWatch developing.
The outlook on Scottish Re and its operating companies is developing, according to S&P.