AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a+” (Excellent) of Blue Whale Re Ltd. (Blue Whale) (Burlington, VT). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect Blue Whale’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The ratings also reflect Blue Whale’s function as the only captive insurer for Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) [NYSE: PFE], a global pharmaceutical company. As Blue Whale insures or reinsures Pfizer’s global property exposures, it plays a strategic and critical role in Pfizer’s overall ERM in protecting the Pfizer enterprise’s assets.

Blue Whale provides coverages with ample limits with substantial retentions, augmenting significant reinsurance capacity supporting its obligations. Nonetheless, the reinsurance program is appropriate and diverse, providing ample coverage for all its lines of business. AM Best recognizes the quality of the reinsurers and the substantial financial resources and assistance available to the captive as part of Pfizer. The captive’s operating performance remains favorable when compared with its peers with low average loss and minimal expense ratios. The volatility of key metrics is within its risk tolerance and can be moderate with its high retentions for low frequency, high severity coverage as experienced in 2023.

Blue Whale is a wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary of Pfizer, created to insure or reinsure specific risks of its parent organization. In recent years of hard market conditions, Blue Whale has opted to participate in small slices of its catastrophe tower as an economic efficiency for the Pfizer enterprise. It also offers capacity for cyber liability coverage when required by hard market pricing.

Negative rating action could occur if AM Best's perception of Pfizer’s ability and/or willingness to support the captive changes.

AM Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the United States and throughout the world. For current Best’s Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.

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