NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 15, 2002--Standard&Poor's said today it assigned its single-'A'-minus rating to Minnesota based property/casualty insurer St. Paul Cos. Inc.'s $500 million senior notes issuance, due to mature in March 2007. This represents a draw down of shelf registration statement No. 333-44122, which became effective Aug. 30, 2000, and was amended on Dec. 19, 2001, with an aggregate amount of $1.001 billion. These securities will rank equally with St. Paul's existing senior note obligations. It also said the outlook for St. Paul is negative because of the risk of significant restructuring and the need to improve capital adequacy. The rating reflects St. Paul's current financial leverage and management's intended use of proceeds. Debt leverage
