A.M. Best Withdraws Credit Ratings of Sun Life Financial Inc.’s Dental HMO Subsidiaries

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “a-” of the dental HMO entities acquired by Sun Life Financial Inc. (Sun Life) as part of their 2016 acquisition of the U.S. employee benefits business of Assurant, Inc. (Assurant). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable. A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings at the request of the company to no longer participate in the interactive rating process. (See below for a detailed list of Sun Life’s dental HMO entities.)

The dental HMO entities are wholly owned subsidiaries of Sun Life’s lead insurance company, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (SLA). These HMO entities will continue to provide SLA a marketing arm to sell managed care dental business solely in the state that they are domiciled as part of the broader employee benefits group product offerings.

The FSR of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of “a-” have been affirmed and withdrawn at the company’s request for the following life/health subsidiaries (dental HMOs) of Sun Life Financial Inc.:

• UDC Dental California, Inc.
• Union Security DentalCare of New Jersey, Inc.
• United Dental Care of Arizona, Inc.
• United Dental Care of Colorado, Inc.
• United Dental Care of Missouri, Inc.
• United Dental Care of New Mexico, Inc.
• United Dental Care of Texas, Inc.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. 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 A.M. Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best’s Credit Ratings.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2017 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170224005737/en/

A.M. Best

Anthony McSwieney, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5715

Senior Financial Analyst

[email protected]

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

[email protected]

or

Ken Johnson, CFA, CAIA, FRM, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5056

Senior Director

[email protected]

or

Jim Peavy, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

[email protected]

Source: A.M. Best