Assured Guaranty's Municipal Assurance Corp., the company's muni-only bond insurance business launched last month, wrapped its first deal.
MAC insured $2.48 million of Fonda-Fultonville Central school district general obligation bonds in a competitive sale, Assured said Thursday. The district, located in upstate New York, includes an elementary, middle and high school and has an underlying Standard & Poor's rating of A-plus.
"Fonda-Fultonville Central school district fits clearly into MAC's muni-only target market of essential service GO's and tax-backed and revenue supported obligations," Dominic Frederico, Assured's chief executive officer, said in an emailed statement. "We look forward to working with issuers and their bankers and advisors to achieve efficient transaction executions and to providing investors the proven security they expect from an Assured Guaranty company."
Assured launched MAC on July 22 with $1.5 billion in claims-paying resources as well as $111 billion in ceded par from Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp and Assured Guaranty Corp. The company announced it would open a muni-only business earlier this year after receiving rating downgrades on multiple businesses by Moody's Investors Service.
"We're pleased that Municipal Assurance Corp was selected to insure its first transaction so soon after MAC's launch last week," Frederico said.
Build America Mutual, the muni-only insurer that opened for business in July 2012, wrapped its first deal, $10 million of York Suburban school district general obligation bonds, two months after its launch. The mutual insurer, rated AA-stable by S&P, accounted for 38 percent of the bond insurance market in the first half of this year.
MAC has an AA-plus rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency and AA-minus stable from S&P.
