Kroll Bond Rating Agency Affirms Municipal Assurance Corp.’s AA+ Financial Strength Rating with Stable Outlook
July 18 2018 - 4:15PM
Business Wire
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) affirmed its insurance financial
strength rating of AA+, with a Stable Outlook, for Municipal
Assurance Corp. (MAC), a financial guaranty subsidiary of Assured
Guaranty Ltd. (together with its subsidiaries, Assured
Guaranty)(NYSE:AGO) on July 16, 2018.
In the report, KBRA noted the following key strengths supporting
MAC’s AA+ rating:
- “Strong claims-paying resources which
can withstand KBRA stress losses in a run-off scenario with a
comfortable balance remaining.”
- “Diverse, high quality insured
portfolio; no exposure to Puerto Rico.”
- “Skilled and disciplined management and
staff with deep expertise and market experience.”
- “A mature and high-functioning
operating platform supported by strong governance and risk
management systems.”
“Since MAC’s inception, KBRA has consistently affirmed MAC’s AA+
stable rating. Their new report reiterates that MAC can withstand a
AAA level of KBRA stress losses, with a comfortable balance
remaining,” said Dominic Frederico, President and CEO of Assured
Guaranty. “MAC provides savings and top-quality service for small
and medium-sized issuers and extremely strong payment protection
for investors in MAC-insured bonds.”
MAC is licensed to insure municipal bonds in all 50 states and
the District of Columbia. MAC was launched on July 22, 2013 to
guarantee only U.S. municipal bonds in the most well understood
bond sectors, such as general obligations and tax-backed issues for
cities, counties and school districts, and revenue bonds for public
electric, water and sewer utilities and transportation authorities.
At March 31, 2018, MAC had over $900 million of claims paying
resources. Its insured portfolio generates predictable future
revenue from its embedded $200 million of unearned premiums, which
are part of MAC’s $794 million investment portfolio. MAC has a
diverse and high quality insured portfolio with no exposure to
Puerto Rico.
In addition to the KBRA rating, MAC’s financial strength is
rated AA with a Stable Outlook by Standard & Poor’s Ratings
Services.
Any forward-looking statements made in this press release
reflect Assured Guaranty’s current views with respect to future
events 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. These
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those
resulting from changes in rating agency models or opinions, adverse
credit developments in MAC’s insured portfolio and the impact of
those developments on rating agency models and opinions, 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 Guaranty’s filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are made as of
July 17, 2018, 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, except
as required by law.
MAC is a New York insurance company and a subsidiary of Assured
Guaranty Ltd., which is a publicly traded (NYSE: AGO) Bermuda-based
holding company. The operating subsidiaries of Assured Guaranty
Ltd. provide credit enhancement products to the U.S. and
international public finance, infrastructure and structured finance
markets. More information on Assured Guaranty Ltd. and its
subsidiaries, including MAC, can be found at
AssuredGuaranty.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180718005812/en/
Assured GuarantyRobert Tucker, 212-339-0861Senior Managing
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate
Communicationsrtucker@assuredguaranty.comorMedia:Ashweeta Durani,
212-408-6042Vice President, Corporate
Communicationsadurani@assuredguaranty.com
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