NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) July 12, 1999--Standard&Poor's today affirmed its counterparty and financial strength ratings on St. Paul Cos. Inc. and related ratings (see list below) following the announcement that St. Paul is selling its standard personal lines business to MetLife Auto&Home for a total cash consideration of about $600 million. The outlook is stable. Standard&Poor's believes management decision to exit the personal lines business is a positive step forward as the profitability of the personal lines book has generally lagged that of the industry. The personal lines operations is about 20% of St. Paul's property/casualty business and is sold by multiple St. Paul companies, including the three Economy companies: Economy Fire
