NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2009-- Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) the holding company for Assured Guaranty Corp. (“Assured”) and Financial Security Assurance Inc. (“FSA”) announced today its U.S. public finance insured par and market share of public finance new issuance for the third quarter 2009. Consistent with their strong 2009 performance, Assured and FSA guaranteed a total of approximately $8.7 billion in U.S. municipal new issue volume, which represents 9.6% of total par issued for the third quarter 2009. Year-to-date both companies combined have guaranteed approximately $29.6 billion in new issues, representing 10.3% of new public finance issuance.

“Our market activity for the first nine months of 2009 demonstrates the demand for bond insurance,” said Bill Hogan, Senior Managing Director of the Public Finance Group. “In the current challenging economic environment, our guaranty has generated debt service savings for a broad range of issuers, both large and small.”

Assured and FSA provided guaranties on a number of notable transactions during third quarter 2009 including: $386 million in bonds for the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Waterworks Project; $347 million in toll road revenue bonds for the Dulles Metrorail and $168 million in airport system subordinate lien revenue bonds for Clark County, Nevada.

Assured was also active in the Build America Bonds program where they guaranteed $103 million in sales tax bonds, of which $85 million were Build America Bonds for Utah County, Utah and $63 million in revenue bonds for Troy University in Alabama, of which a majority were Build America Bonds.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a Bermuda-based holding company. Its operating subsidiaries provide credit enhancement products to the U.S. and international public finance, structured finance and mortgage markets.

Any forward-looking statements made in this press release reflect Assured’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. For example, Assured’s forward-looking statements, including its statements regarding public finance new issue volume, could be affected by a rating agency action, such as a ratings downgrade, difficulties with the execution of Assured’s business strategy, contract cancellations, developments in the world's financial and capital markets, more severe or frequent losses affecting the adequacy of Assured’s loss reserve, impact of market volatility of the mark-to-market of our contracts written in credit default swap form, changes in regulation or tax laws, governmental actions, natural catastrophes, Assured’s dependence on customers, decreased demand or increased competition, loss of key personnel, technological developments, the effects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, changes in accounting policies or practices, changes in general economic conditions, other risks and uncertainties that have not been identified at this time, management's response to these factors, and other risk factors identified in Assured’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. Assured undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Assured Guaranty Ltd.

Assured Guaranty Ltd.
Equity Investors:
Sabra Purtill, Managing Director, Investor Relations, 212-408-6044 or 441-299-9375
spurtill@assuredguaranty.com
or
Ross Aron, Associate, Investor Relations, 212-261-5509
raron@assuredguaranty.com
Media:
Betsy Castenir, Managing Director, Corporate Communications, 212-339-3424, 917-940-2462 or 441-299-9375
bcastenir@fsa.com
or
Ashweeta Durani, Vice President, Corporate Communications, 212-408-6042 or 917-597-2065
adurani@assuredguaranty.com