...TORONTO (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 24, 2017--S&P Global Ratings today said it ratings on Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX:FFH; ###-/Stable) and its subsidiaries are unaffected following the announced agreement with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. of Tokyo (MSI) to explore broad global partnership. In pursuit of that, MSI agreed to purchase FFH's 97.7% interest in First Capital Insurance Ltd. of Singapore (not rated) for $1.6 billion. We expect the sale of First Capital, which we expect to close by first-quarter 2018, to net a realized investment gain of approximately $900 million after-tax for FFH. While the company will lose a profitable operation, the premium over First Capital's book value is substantial and any impact on FFH's consolidated performance is for the most part mitigated, in our view, by First Capital's small net premium base, a retained portion of First Capital's earnings through quota-share, and the addition of strong earnings stream from Allied World Assurance Co....
