NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 9, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'A-' rating to Allstate Corp.'s (NYSE:ALL; A-/Negative/A-2) $500 million, senior unsecured notes. We expect Allstate to use the proceeds from the senior unsecured notes to refinance $350 million of 6.125% senior unsecured notes maturing in February 2012, and to use the remainder for general corporate purposes including part of a new $1 billion share repurchase program. The notes will increase leverage modestly, but we believe that fixed-charge coverage will remain within our expectations of 7x, and the company's debt plus hybrids-to-total capital ratio will be less than 35%. Total interest expense will increase from current levels due to the incremental additional outstanding
