Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. (Aspen) intends to issue senior unsecured notes to use for general corporate purposes. We are assigning a rating of 'BBB+' to these notes. At the same time, we are affirming the 'BBB+' counterparty credit rating on Aspen. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the group's operating performance will continue to be strong, and at least in line with similarly assessed peers. LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 10, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'BBB+' rating to Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.'s (Aspen) pending $250 million 10-year senior unsecured notes. At the same time, we affirmed our 'BBB+' counterparty credit rating on Aspen. The outlook is stable. The ratings reflect the group's
