Lincoln National Corp. Senior Debt Rated 'A-'

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 7, 2018--S&P Global Ratings said today it rated Lincoln National Corp.'s total $1.1 billion issuance of senior notes 'A-'. We expect $300 million of the capital raise to prefund upcoming 2018 maturities. An additional approximate amount of $300 million will finance the make-whole of a senior note that is set to mature in 2019. Finally, the remaining net issuance of $500 million will finance the recently announced acquisition of Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston. Given the planned reduction in share buy-backs, we expect Lincoln's overall financial risk profile to remain supportive of the ratings (see "Lincoln National Corp. Rating Unaffected By Acquisition Announcement," published Jan. 19, 2018). Once the prefundings occur, we expect

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 7, 2018--S&P Global Ratings said today it rated Lincoln National Corp.'s total $1.1 billion issuance of senior notes 'A-'. We expect $300 million of the capital raise to prefund upcoming 2018 maturities. An additional approximate amount of $300 million will finance the make-whole of a senior note that is set to mature in 2019. Finally, the remaining net issuance of $500 million will finance the recently announced acquisition of Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston. Given the planned reduction in share buy-backs, we expect Lincoln's overall financial risk profile to remain supportive of the ratings (see "Lincoln National Corp. Rating Unaffected By Acquisition Announcement," published Jan. 19, 2018). Once the prefundings occur, we expect financial leverage to be in the 26%-27% range and fixed-charge coverage to be above 5x. RELATED CRITERIA + Criteria - Insurance - Life: Methodology: Treatment Of U.S. Life Insurance Reserves And Reserve Financing Transactions,...

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