LONDON (Standard&Poor's) April 27, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'A' long-term junior subordinated debt rating to the proposed perpetual, subordinated, fixed-rate, step-up euro-denominated notes (the notes) to be issued by conduit structure ELM B.V. and secured over the perpetual subordinated step-up loan notes (the loan notes) of global reinsurer Swiss Reinsurance Co. (Swiss Re; AA/Watch Neg/A-1+). The performance of the notes is directly linked to the performance of the loan notes. At the same time, the rating was placed on CreditWatch with negative implications, in line with the CreditWatch listing of Swiss Re. Standard&Poor's characterizes the notes as "strong", being at the upper level of its Category 2 (intermediate equity content)
