Ambac Financial approves sale of guarantee business to Oaktree

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. announced that its shareholders have approved the proposed agreement for the sale of its legacy financial guarantee businesses.

At a special meeting, shareholders voted in favor of a transaction where funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, LP will acquire Ambac Assurance Corporation and Ambac Assurance UK Limited.

Ambac’s president and CEO, Claude LeBlanc (pictured above), acknowledged the significance of this step, stating that the sale is part of a process aimed at maximizing the value of the company’s financial guarantee insurance business.

“The sale represents a meaningful step in a robust and thorough process to maximize the value of our legacy financial guarantee insurance business and enable us to achieve our strategy to transform Ambac into a specialty property and casualty insurance platform. We look forward to finalizing the transaction upon regulatory approval,” he said.

The proposal was backed by approximately 95% of the votes cast at the meeting, surpassing the required approval from a majority of shareholders. Ambac will file the certified vote results with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a Form 8-K.

Completion of the sale is anticipated to occur in late 2024 or early 2025, pending approval from regulators in the US and UK, as well as meeting other standard closing conditions.

Moelis & Company LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Ambac, with legal support provided by Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Back in August, Ambac Financial Group also finalized its acquisition of a 60% controlling stake in London-based insurance underwriting and managing general agency incubation platform Beat Capital Partners.

The completed acquisition effectively doubles the size of Ambac’s property and casualty insurance operations, positioning the group to achieve approximately US$1.4 billion in annualized premiums for this year. It enhances the scale and diversity of Cirrata Group, Ambac’s insurance distribution division, increasing its portfolio to include 16 MGAs.

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