DBRS Downgrades Rating on Kingsway Linked Return of Capital Trust and Discontinues Coverage

DBRS has today downgraded its rating on the LROC Preferred Units (the Units) issued by Kingsway Linked Return of Capital Trust (the Trust) to Pfd-4 (low) from Pfd-4. The Under Review with Negative Implications status, which was assigned to the Units on June 8, 2009, is being maintained.

The LROC Preferred Units are supported by an exposure to a note guaranteed by Kingsway Financial Services Inc. and Kingsway America Inc. (collectively, Kingsway) through a forward purchase agreement. The downgrade of the Units is a result of DBRS downgrading the long-term debt ratings of Kingsway earlier today to B (high) from BB (low).

Also, subsequent to today’s downgrade, DBRS immediately discontinued its ratings coverage of Kingsway. As a result, the rating of the Units has also been discontinued.

Notes:
The applicable methodology is Split Share Issuers: A Performance Overview, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Structured Finance rating.