5 May 2017Insurance

Assured Guaranty Q1 profit jumps on acquisition, business improvement

Bermuda-based Assured Guaranty’s recorded a substantial improvement in net profit in the first quarter due to fair value gains on credit derivatives and the  acquisition of MBIA UK Insurance.

AGC, a subsidiary of insurer Assured Guaranty, has in January completed the acquisition of MBIA UK Insurance. The acquisition will add $13 billion to Assured Guaranty’s insured portfolio, and expand its presence in the European market.

Assured Guaranty’s net income for the first three months of 2017 came to $317 million after $59 million in the same period a year ago.

The company said that this increase was primarily attributable to fair value gains on credit derivatives, the acquisition of MBIA UK Insurance, and a commutation gain upon the reassumption of previously ceded contracts.

Assured Guaranty said that the acquisition of MBIA UK Insurance resulted in a benefit to net income and operating income of $57 million.

Gross written premiums for the first quarter of 2017 came to $111 million, more than six times the $19 million it wrote over the same period of 2016.

“Assured Guaranty is off to another strong start this year, with outstanding first quarter results driven in part by our acquisition of MBIA UK,” said Dominic Frederico, president and CEO of Assured Guaranty. “New business production was better than in any quarter since fourth quarter 2010, with a strong performance by US public finance, several major international transactions and solid structured finance originations. We advanced our capital management strategy by repurchasing $216 million in common shares while, at the same time, improving our financial strength by increasing our claims-paying resources by $391 million.”

Today’s stories

Allianz Australia reveals new CEO amid reshuffle

Investment returns drive Third Point Re to profit in Q1

Severe wind and hail storm cause underwriting loss at Liberty Mutual in Q1

Lloyd's and Zurich representatives join Australia’s Insurance Council Board

HDI hires from Liberty Mutual to strengthen UK and Ireland claims team

Diekmann replaces Perlet as Allianz chairman

Ryan Specialty Group hires technology leader from Aon

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Insurance
11 January 2017   AGC, a subsidiary of insurer Assured Guaranty, has completed the acquisition of MBIA UK Insurance, and will soon rebrand the company as its subsidiary.
Insurance
27 June 2017   Bermuda-based Assured Guaranty has announced its plan to combine the portfolios and operations of its four international financial guaranty insurance companies.