Aflac raises $750 million, converts notes to yen, will pay off $347 million in ...
New Jersey-based A.M. Best Co., an insurance rating firm, has given both of the Aflac notes a debt rating of “A-” and called their outlook for repayment “stable” based on the supplemental health and life insurer’s strong financial position.
“Aflac’s overall financial leverage is expected to drop back below 25 percent following the repayment of the Samurai notes, while interest coverage should remain in the high teens, driven by the company’s strong operating earnings profile,” A.M. Best said in an investor note.
Aflac said it swapped $400 million in senior notes with an interest rate of 2.65 percent to 30.9 billion in yen notes with a rate of 1.22 percent. They mature in 2017.
Another set of notes, valued at $350 million with a 10-year fixed rate of 4 percent in the U.S., have been converted to 27 billion in yen notes with a rate of 2.07 percent.
“It does make sense because it adds to our financial flexibility,” Wilkey said. “It generates a lot of money. It makes sense to be able to do this at this very low interest rate.”
Insurance company Aflac, with a majority of its clients in Japan, promptly sacked Gottfried as the voice of their mascot Aflac duck. The Dr Pepper campaign got Facebook fans to download an app to give up control of their Facebook status updates under