Assured Guaranty tapped David A. Buzen, former president and chief executive officer of CIFG Holding Inc., to manage its newly formed alternative investments group.
The alternative investments group will focus on deploying a portion of Assured's excess capital to pursue acquisitions and develop new business opportunities that benefit from the company's core competencies and credit expertise and are in line with its risk profile, the bond insurer said in a press release Monday. As of March 31, 2016, Assured Guaranty's shareholders' equity totaled $6.1 billion, and it had $11.2 billion of assets in its investment portfolio.
Assured is the biggest municipal bond insurer and has been strategically acquiring legacy insurers, with the most recent acquisitions being CIFG in July, Radian Asset Assurance Inc., in 2015 and Financial Security Assurance Inc., (now Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp.) in 2009. Assured has listed acquisitions as one of its key strategies.
Buzen will hold a title of senior managing director of the newly formed group, which will also include Stan Cotek, formerly Treasurer and managing director of finance and IT systems at CIFG, and Robert M. Forant, formerly chief operating office of AIG Global Risk Solutions & Multinational. Cotek will be a managing director in the group, while Forant will join as director.
"We have known and worked with Dave Buzen for many years and seen his leadership ability in a variety of financial settings in and out of the financial guaranty industry," said Dominic Frederico, president and chief executive officer at Assured. "He is one of the best people we could have found to lead the development of our Alternative Investments group. We're also pleased to welcome onto his team two experienced, highly skilled professionals, Stan Cotek and Robert Forant."
Buzen has more than 30 years of experience in the financial guaranty insurance industry and financial services. At CIFG, which he joined as chief operating and chief financial officer in 2009, he developed and implemented a remediation strategy that restored solvency and improved the operations and control environment, which made it possible for Assured Guaranty to acquire the company on July 1, 2016.
Prior to his years at CIFG, Buzen was chief financial officer of Churchill Financial, a commercial finance and asset management company. Earlier, he headed DEPFA Bank's municipal reinvestment and financial guarantee businesses, after serving as chief operating officer of ACE Financial Solutions, which acquired Capital Re Corp. (now Assured Guaranty Corp.), where he had been chief financial officer. He began his career in the financial guaranty industry at Ambac Financial Group.
"Assured Guaranty has successfully executed alternative strategies to build shareholder value while protecting the financial strength of its core financial guaranty business," Buzen said. "I'm excited to lead a department dedicated to finding and implementing more of these opportunities."
