Assured Guaranty Subsidiary AGC Upgraded to AA+ by KBRA
21 Octobre 2021 - 10:23PM
Business Wire
KBRA Also Affirms AA+ Financial Strength
Ratings of AGM and International Subsidiaries
Outlooks Are Stable
Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)(together with its subsidiaries,
Assured Guaranty) announced that on October 20, Kroll Bond Rating
Agency LLC (KBRA) upgraded to AA+ the insurance financial strength
rating of Assured Guaranty Corp. (AGC) from the financial
guarantor’s previous AA rating. Additionally, KBRA affirmed its AA+
financial strength ratings for U.S. bond insurer Assured Guaranty
Municipal Corp. (AGM); U.K. financial guarantor Assured Guaranty UK
Limited (AGUK) and European financial guarantor Assured Guaranty
(Europe) SA (AGE). All the ratings have stable outlooks.
In its October 20 surveillance report upgrading AGC to AA+, KBRA
noted that:
- “AGC’s upgrade reflects its stronger capital position relative
to conservative stress scenario losses at a high confidence level
as applied across its portfolio.”
- “All but two insured Puerto Rico credits within AGC’s portfolio
are now covered by executed plan support agreements representing
over 97% of net exposure. AGC has not paid claims on the remaining
credits. While still subject to court certification, the agreements
pave the way for an orderly exit from their respective Title III
proceedings.”
- “KBRA also reviewed AGC’s corporate governance framework,
credit and risk management processes and consider them strong and
reflective of industry best practices. AGC has a proven management
team and a well-developed governance framework.”
In its October 20 surveillance report affirming the AA+ ratings
of AGM and its UK and European subsidiaries, KBRA wrote:
- “AGM’s rating reflects its substantial claims paying resources,
skilled management team and ability to withstand KBRA’s
conservative stress scenario losses as applied across the company’s
insured portfolio.”
- “Experienced management team which operates with a mature and
high-functioning operating platform supported by strong governance
and risk management systems.”
- “Municipal market insured penetration is at its highest levels
since 2009.”
- “All but one insured Puerto Rico credit within AGM’s portfolio
is now covered by executed plan support agreements representing
nearly 92% of net exposure. AGM has still not paid any claims on
the remaining credits.”
- “AGUK and AGE benefit from extensive intra-group financial
support agreements.”
In commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic, KBRA wrote:
“Platform-wide, Assured has only paid relatively small first-time
insurance claims it believes are due at least in part to credit
stress arising specifically from COVID-19 and expects nearly full
reimbursement.”
In response to the report, Dominic Frederico, President and CEO
of Assured Guaranty said: “We are pleased that KBRA has recognized
AGC’s strong claims-paying ability and decreased insured leverage,
along with other reasons for its upgrade of AGC to AA+, the same
rating KBRA has affirmed for Assured Guaranty’s other financial
guarantors. Our company has performed well and remained well
capitalized during the pandemic, and we are strongly positioned for
the future. As always, we are committed to maintaining a well
thought-out and measured approach to underwriting a diverse
insurance portfolio, and to continue offering a uniquely beneficial
value proposition for both issuers and investors. As KBRA noted in
its report, bond insurance penetration of the municipal market has
risen to its highest level since 2009, and we are proud to have led
our industry throughout this period of growth.”
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,
difficulties executing Assured Guaranty’s business strategy; those
risks and uncertainties resulting from changes in rating agency
models or opinions; the development, course and duration of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the governmental and private actions taken in
response, and the global consequences of the pandemic and such
actions; adverse credit developments in Puerto Rico or other
portions of Assured Guaranty’s insured portfolio and the impact of
those developments on rating agency models and opinions; insured
losses in excess of those expected by Assured Guaranty or the
failure of Assured Guaranty to realize loss recoveries that are
assumed in its expected loss estimates for insurance exposures,
including as a result of the failure to resolve Assured Guaranty's
Puerto Rico exposure in a manner substantially consistent with the
support agreements signed to date; 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 October 21, 2021.
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.
Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a publicly traded (NYSE: AGO)
Bermuda-based holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Assured
Guaranty provides credit enhancement products to the U.S. and
international public finance, infrastructure and structured finance
markets, and also provides asset management services. More
information on Assured Guaranty Ltd. and its subsidiaries can be
found at AssuredGuaranty.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211021006057/en/
Investor Relations: Robert Tucker, 212-339-0861 Senior Managing
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
rtucker@assuredguaranty.com Media: Ashweeta Durani, 212-408-6042
Vice President, Corporate Communications
adurani@assuredguaranty.com
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