Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) ("Assured Guaranty” or the "Company”),
the holding company for Assured Guaranty Corp. and Financial Security
Assurance Inc. ("FSA”), announced today that, pending regulatory
approval, it will change the name of its subsidiary FSA to Assured
Guaranty Municipal Corp. The Company also plans to change the names of
the FSA companies worldwide.
Assured Guaranty acquired FSA on July 1, 2009, expanding its presence in
the bond insurance industry by offering issuers and investors the
financial strength and flexibility of two separately capitalized bond
insurers. Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., formerly FSA, now serves the
municipal market exclusively, and Assured Guaranty Corp. provides
financial guaranty insurance to both the municipal and structured
finance sectors.
Dominic Frederico, President and Chief Executive Officer of Assured
Guaranty said, "Since completing the acquisition, we have been
contemplating this name change to highlight the role of the
municipal-only bond insurance company and to better communicate that we
are offering municipal bond issuers and investors a choice between two
proven, financially strong guarantors. With the only established bond
insurers to have come through the recession in strong capital positions,
the Assured Guaranty family of companies, which now includes Assured
Guaranty Corp., Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and Assured Guaranty Re
Ltd. (licensed and operating exclusively in Bermuda), remain committed
to the municipal market and have the capital resources to meet its needs.
"We also see an important role for Assured Guaranty Corp. to assist in
the recovery of the structured finance sector as the economy improves.
Our value proposition, which goes beyond the guaranty and includes
providing liquidity and valuation, as well as credit analysis,
surveillance, and, if necessary, remediation, is more necessary than
ever given the current economic environment,” he added.
Assured Guaranty has continued to see a strong demand for its financial
guaranty products in the U.S. municipal market throughout 2009 as
demonstrated by its previously announced third quarter 2009 U.S. public
finance new issue volume. The two direct bond insurers guaranteed a
total of approximately $8.7 billion in U.S. municipal new issue volume,
representing 9.6% of total par issued for the third quarter 2009.
Year-to date, both companies combined have guaranteed approximately
$32.0 billion in new issues, representing 9.5% of public finance new
issuance.
Information on Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., formerly FSA, is
currently available at www.fsa.com.
On or about November 18, 2009, information on the FSA web site will be
migrated to the Assured Guaranty web site at www.assuredguaranty.com.
Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a publicly traded Bermuda-based holding
company. Its operating subsidiaries provide credit enhancement products
to the U.S. and international public finance and structured finance
markets. More information on the Company and its subsidiaries can be
found at www.assuredguaranty.com.
Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect the
current views of Assured Guaranty with respect to future events and
financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results
to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. For
example, Assured Guaranty’s forward-looking statements could be affected
by rating agency action, including a ratings downgrade at any time of
one or more of Assured Guaranty’s insurance subsidiaries and/or of
transactions that such subsidiaries have insured, both of which have
occurred in the past; developments in the world's financial and capital
markets that adversely affect issuers’ payment rates, Assured Guaranty’s
loss experience, its ability to cede exposure to reinsurers, its access
to capital, its unrealized (losses) gains on derivative financial
instruments or its investment returns; changes in the credit markets,
segments thereof or general economic conditions; more severe or frequent
losses affecting the adequacy of Assured Guaranty’s loss reserve; the
impact of market volatility on the mark-to-market of its contracts
written in credit default swap form; reduction in the amount of
reinsurance facultative cessions or portfolio opportunities available to
Assured Guaranty; decreased demand or increased competition; changes in
applicable accounting policies or practices; changes in applicable laws
or regulation, including insurance and tax laws; other governmental
actions; difficulties with the execution of Assured Guaranty’s business
strategy; contract cancellations; Assured Guaranty’s dependence on
customers; loss of key personnel; adverse technological developments;
the effects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; natural or
man-made catastrophes; other risks and uncertainties that have not been
identified at this time; management's response to these factors; and
other risk factors identified in Assured’s filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
dates on which they are made. Assured Guaranty undertakes no obligation
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
