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UPDATE 2-Assured Guaranty sees Q3 loss, shares fall

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:42pm EST

Stocks

   

* Sees $35 mln Q3 loss * FSA deal expenses of $0.30/shr hurts Q3

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* Sees Q3 oper EPS $0.44 vs est. $0.46

* Stock falls 6 pct after the bell (Adds details from news release, background, updates share movement)

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd (AGO.N) expects to post a quarterly net loss despite a significant jump in net premiums earned as a recent acquisition and loss adjustments took a toll on its expenses, sending its shares down 6 percent.

Assured Guaranty bought Belgian-French financial group Dexia's (DEXI.BR) loss-making U.S. insurance unit Financial Security Assurance (FSA) for $817 million in July. Dexia is the world's largest municipal lender and the recipient of a 6.4 billion euro ($8 billion) public bailout.

In a non-timely quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said it expects to post a consolidated net loss of about $35 million, or 22 cents per share, for the third quarter.

Assured Guaranty expects operating income of 44 cents a share.

Analysts on average expected operating income of 46 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Assured said it expects to report total expenses of about $313.6 million, compared with $129.3 million a year ago.

Third-quarter net earned premiums jumped to $330 million from $85.5 million, aided in part by the FSA acquisition.

Investor Wilbur Ross, the founder of New York-based private equity firm WL Ross & Co, holds investments in Assured Guaranty.

Ross, who made a fortune snapping up distressed companies, told Reuters in March that U.S. municipal bond buyers are now doing the bulk of their business with Assured.

Assured, which had little exposure to subprime-backed securities, has largely escaped the credit problems that crippled rivals Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N) and MBIA (MBI.N).

Ambac shares sank more than 36 percent on Tuesday after the company warned it may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot fix its liquidity problems. [ID:nN10327885]

Rival MBIA has also struggled to write new business since losing its top-notch credit rating last year.

Shares of Assured Guaranty were down 6 percent at $16.30 after the bell. They closed at $17.33 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have risen more than six-fold since hitting a 52-week low of $2.69 in March. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)



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