Renaissance Reinsurance had its financial strength ratings upgraded to A+ (superior) from A (excellent) and the issuer credit ratings to aa- from a+ of Renaissance Reinsurance and Renaissance Reinsurance of Europe by AM Best Co.

The outlook for these ratings has been revised to stable from positive.

Concurrently, AM Best has upgraded the issuer credit ratings to a- from bbb+ and the debt ratings to a- from bbb+ on senior notes and to bbb from bbb- on preferred stock of RenaissanceRe Holdings. The outlook for the issuer credit ratings has been revised to stable from positive, and the outlook for the debt remains stable.

AM Best also has upgraded the indicative debt ratings to a- from bbb+ for senior notes, to bbb+ from bbb for subordinated notes and to bbb from bbb- for preferred stock for securities available under shelf registration for RenaissanceRe. The outlook for these ratings is stable.

According to AM Best these rating actions reflect RenaissanceRe's continued strong level of capitalisation, superior risk management techniques and exceptional historical underwriting track record, with the exception of 2004 and 2005. Year-to-date 2007 earnings have been strong as a result of a benign US hurricane season.

On an historical basis, the average five-year return on equity has approximated 18 percent, including the effects of the 2004 and 2005 US wind seasons. Going forward, AM Best anticipates that RenRe will prudently manage the market cycle and continue to produce returns that are above average relative to its overall risk profile.

As a market leader in global property catastrophe reinsurance, RenaissanceRe's earnings remain exposed to high severity losses associated with catastrophic events on a worldwide basis. Furthermore, RenaissanceRe's specialty and individual risk businesses have experienced rapid growth in recent years, with the individual risk unit taking significant losses from the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.

Nonetheless, these factors are somewhat mitigated by RenaissanceRe's disciplined and analytical underwriting approach, sophisticated catastrophe modeling capabilities and the active monitoring controls over the individual risk business.