LONDON--()--Assured Guaranty (Europe) Ltd. (“AGE”) announced today that, together with its indirect parent Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. ("AGM" and, together with AGE, “Assured Guaranty”), it provided a financial guarantee with respect to a UK Private Finance Initiative (“PFI”) bond issue, originally issued by Worcestershire Hospital SPC Plc on March 31st 1999 to raise £97.2 million to finance the construction and operation of the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Assured Guaranty replaced the original guarantor, Ambac Assurance UK Limited, in order to enhance the creditworthiness of the bonds. As the guarantor, Assured Guaranty guarantees timely payment of scheduled principal and interest to bondholders, throughout the life of the bond, which matures in 2030.
One hundred percent of the voting bondholders approved the appointment of Assured Guaranty as the new guarantor and controlling creditor. The guarantees are being paid for by the bondholders through a reduction in the coupon on the bonds. Moody’s re-rated the bonds Aa3 based on the financial strength ratings of the Assured Guaranty guarantors, which are rated Aa3 (negative outlook) by Moody's and AA– (stable outlook) by S&P. The consolidated Assured Guaranty group of companies has $13 billion of total claims-paying resources1.
Nick Proud, CEO of AGE, commented, “This is the first infrastructure bond transaction guaranteed in Europe since the onset of the global credit crisis. It marks a very important step in bringing the capital markets back to infrastructure finance and revalidates the monoline financial guarantee model as a key part of that - enhancing creditworthiness, reducing and monitoring risks and improving capital treatment for investors, while widening market access and reducing funding costs for issuers.”
Dominic Nathan, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure at AGE, added, “We are seeing a resurgent investor appetite for guaranteed infrastructure bonds - this is the first of a number of deals in our pipeline that we expect to close. Having survived the financial crisis with some of the highest ratings in the financial sector, Assured Guaranty is well placed to play a leading role in financing infrastructure projects in the UK and Europe at a time when the banks are retreating from long-term lending.”
Assured Guaranty Ltd. ("AGL" and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company") is the leading provider of financial guarantees for principal and interest payments due on municipal, public infrastructure and structured financings.
The Company’s subsidiary AGM guarantees international infrastructure and U.S. municipal bonds and was previously named Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA) before becoming an Assured Guaranty company in July 2009. AGE, an indirect subsidiary of AGM, is the Company’s European operating platform. AGE is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority and its company number is 2510099.
AGL is a publicly traded (NYSE: AGO) Bermuda-based holding company. More information on AGL and its subsidiaries can be found at www.assuredguaranty.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect the Company’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 the Company’s inability to execute its strategies; the demand for the Company’s financial guarantees, further actions that the rating agencies may take with respect to the Company’s financial strength ratings; adverse developments in the Company’s insured portfolio; and other risks and uncertainties that have not been identified at this time, management’s response to these factors, and other risk factors identified in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are made as of 9 January 2012. The Company 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.
1 AGL at 30/9/2011 statutory basis