On April 4, 2006, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'A+' senior unsecured debt rating to Lincoln National Corp.'s (NYSE:LNC) floating-rate senior notes issuance due 2009 and fixed-rate notes due 2036 totaling $1 billion. The proceeds from this issuance will be used to repay a portion of the outstanding loan balance under the bridge facility used to finance the cash portion of the consideration in connection with the merger with Jefferson-Pilot Corp. The rating reflects LNC's strong diversified cash flows from both insurance and noninsurance operations, very strong fixed-charge coverage of 8.9x, and modest financial leverage of 19% on a 2006 pro forma basis. Lincoln Financial Group, the operating name of the merged company, had pro forma consolidated assets
