Assured Guaranty Ltd. ("Assured”) (NYSE:AGO), the holding company for
Assured Guaranty Corp. and Financial Security Assurance Inc. ("FSA”),
announced today that Assured Guaranty Corp. and FSA guaranteed a
combined par amount of approximately $3 billion of municipal bonds, in
the month of July, representing 12.9% of new issue public finance
volume. FSA, which was acquired by Assured on July 1, contributed $222
million of the par amount.
"We are pleased to be off to a strong start in the third quarter and
would expect to significantly increase our activity now that we can
offer issuers and investors the capital strength and flexibility of two
distinct platforms—FSA, a public finance-only insurer and Assured
Guaranty Corp., a provider to both the public finance and structured
finance sectors,” said Sean W. McCarthy, President and Chief Operating
Officer of Assured Guaranty US Holdings Inc. "We are fully committed to
the U.S. municipal market and are currently in the process of providing
detailed information on our financial strength and enhanced capabilities
to broker/dealers, financial advisors and investors in this marketplace.”
Notable transactions that Assured Guaranty Corp. provided guaranties for
during the past month included: $270 million in senior lien revenue
bonds for the North Carolina Triangle Expressway; $219 million in
general obligation bonds for the Florida Marlin Ballpark; $90 million in
general obligation bonds for the Unified School District No. 457 in
Finney County, Kansas and $81 million in general obligation bonds for
Monroe County in New York. FSA originations included $135 million in
subordinated turnpike revenue bonds for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
"We are pleased by our continued market acceptance as demonstrated by
the transactions noted above,” stated Bill Hogan, Senior Managing
Director of Public Finance. Mr. Hogan leads the combined public finance
team that assists issuers in selecting the insuring company to achieve
the most efficient financing possible.
Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a Bermuda-based holding company. Its operating
subsidiaries provide credit enhancement products to the U.S. and
international public finance, structured finance and mortgage markets.
Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect
Assured’s current views 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’s forward-looking statements, including its statements regarding
financial strength and growth opportunities, could be affected by a
rating agency action, such as a ratings downgrade, difficulties with the
execution of Assured’s business strategy, contract cancellations,
developments in the world's financial and capital markets, more severe
or frequent losses affecting the adequacy of Assured’s loss reserve,
impact of market volatility of the mark-to-market of our contracts
written in credit default swap form, changes in regulation or tax laws,
governmental actions, natural catastrophes, Assured’s dependence on
customers, decreased demand or increased competition, loss of key
personnel, technological developments, the effects of mergers,
acquisitions and divestitures, changes in accounting policies or
practices, changes in general economic conditions, 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 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
