Reuters Company News
Sun Life says has $45 mln exposure to WorldCom
(All figures in U.S. dollars, unless noted)
TORONTO, June 26 (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Services of Canada (Toronto:SLC.TO - News), Canada's biggest insurer, said on Wednesday it had a $45 million exposure to phone company WorldCom Inc. (NasdaqNM:WCOM - News), but was confident that the investment and other holdings would not hurt earnings overall.
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"While we are not immune to the credit markets, and indeed, we have some exposure to WorldCom of approximately $45 million, I am currently not aware of any adjustments which would materially interrupt our solid earnings performance," Paul Derksen, Sun Life chief financial officer, told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.
In what could be one of the biggest accounting scandals in U.S. history, WorldCom, the No. 2 U.S. long-distance telephone and data services firm, said it improperly booked nearly $4 billion in expenses. The company also said it would restate its results for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 to show net losses.
Derksen later told reporters that its WorldCom exposure was relatively small compared to its whole investment portfolio.
"Our bond holdings in telecoms companies that are non-investment grade would probably be in the C$100 million dollar range. And that's a very small number given the C$105 billion size of our portfolio."
He said the company has more than C$1 billion in actuarial and specific reserves set aside. |
