Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO:US), the bond insurer whose shares have slumped this year, rose the most in three months after telling analysts the firm could manage losses tied to Puerto Rican government debt.
Assured climbed (AGO:US) 3.9 percent to $22.83 at 10:10 a.m. in New York, the biggest gain since May 8. The shares had dropped (AGO:US) 6.9 percent this year through yesterday, including a stretch of eight straight days of losses in June and July after lawmakers in Puerto Rico approved a bill allowing some public corporations to restructure debt.
Assured has about $2.5 billion of net exposure to Puerto Rican debt, including $772 million tied to the troubled Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, chief executive officer Dominic Frederico said today on a conference call with analysts and investors to discuss second-quarter earnings. The debt payments on the PREPA bonds would average about $64 million a year over 10 years, and $113 million for the other debt. With $12 billion in claims-paying resources, Assured could manage the payments in the event of a default, Frederico said.
“Even 100 percent severity loss would obviously be manageable,” he said.
Assured’s second-quarter earnings beat estimates of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Adjusted profit was 56 cents per share, the Bermuda-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts had predicted (AGO:US) 41.3 cents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Giammona in New York at cgiammona@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shannon D. Harrington at sharrington6@bloomberg.net Mitchell Martin, Faris Khan
By Craig Giammona
Assured Rises Most Since May as Puerto Rico Worries Fade
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