Assured Guaranty completes Brexit plans, targets growth in Europe
Assured Guaranty, the financial guaranty insurer, has begun further expansion of its footprint in continental Europe by issuing new financial guarantees through its French subsidiary, Assured Guaranty (Europe) (AGE). The unit is rated AA+ by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and AA by S&P Global Ratings.
Additionally, Assured Guaranty’s UK financial guarantee subsidiary has been renamed Assured Guaranty UK (AGUK) from Assured Guaranty (Europe) to reflect the shift of European operations to AGE. AGUK will continue executing Assured Guaranty’s business in the UK and internationally.
AGE was established in Paris in mid-2019 to prepare for the impact of Brexit on AGUK. AGUK had previously been the entity writing Assured Guaranty’s business in Europe. Whilst Brexit served as a catalyst, Assured Guaranty was already considering having an operational presence in Paris, consistent with the company’s objective to further develop its business in Europe.
“We were seeing increasing demand for our product in the European market and, regardless of Brexit, believed that establishing a new subsidiary in continental Europe would help us to pursue new business in that market,” said Nick Proud, Assured Guaranty’s senior managing director for International Infrastructure and Global Structured Finance.
“With AGE becoming the primary platform for Assured Guaranty’s European operations, changing the UK subsidiary’s name to Assured Guaranty UK Limited was a natural step to reflect its headquarters in London and to differentiate the companies going forward.”
In 2020, AGUK transferred 79 financial guaranty policies to AGE, representing approximately €6.1 billion of par exposure, which consisted almost exclusively of policies relating to risks in the infrastructure, energy and public debt sectors.
To date, AGE has been active in the primary and secondary markets. In the primary market, AGE has closed three new Spanish solar transactions with an aggregate original insured par amount of €972 million.
Raphaël de Tapol, deputy managing director of AGE, said: “Having already guaranteed almost €1 billion of new bonds and established our base in Paris, we look forward to working with issuers on solutions to reduce their financing costs and to providing high-quality, long-term credit protection for the beneficiaries of our financial guarantees in Europe. Our primary focus will continue to be Europe’s infrastructure and structured finance markets. Finding opportunities to use our capabilities in these areas for the benefit of our clients is a key part of Assured Guaranty’s strategy going forward.”
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