Municipal Assurance Corp., Assured Guaranty's municipal-only business, has been licensed by the California Department of Insurance to write financial guaranty insurance in the state alongside its affiliates Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and Assured Guaranty Corp.
"Municipal bonds of California issuers represented 15% of the total par issued in the U.S. public finance market in 2013; we look forward to MAC being able to serve that significant market, especially the small to medium-size bond transactions that MAC was designed to support," Dominic Frederico, president and chief executive officer of Assured said in a press release.
MAC has wrapped $623 million of par in the new issue market from 19 national and regional lead managers as of June 30, 2014. Now with its California license, MAC is qualified to insure municipal bonds in forty-eight states plus the District of Columbia.
"We are pleased that we will be able to offer MAC's AA/AA+ bond insurance to California issuers seeking the most cost-effective financing solutions for their government operations and essential public services," Frederico said.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has rated MAC's financial strength as AA, while Kroll Bond Rating Agency rates the insurer as AA-plus. Both ratings have stable outlooks.
The one-year-old insurer has applied for licensing in the two remaining states, Alabama and New Mexico.
