WL Ross & Co. buys $250 million of shares from Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. said Wilbur Ross's private-equity firm will buy $250 million of shares and commit $750 million in capital to the Bermuda-based bond insurer.

Photo: WL Ross & Co. buys 0 million of shares from Assured Guaranty

WL Ross & Co., Ross's New York-based company, will help Assured Guaranty expand in the reinsurance market, the company's Chief Executive Officer, Dominic Frederico, said in a statement today.

"This flexible capital source will allow us to continue to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities we see and will support our further expansion in both the direct and reinsurance markets,'' Frederico said.

Assured Guaranty is one of two bond insurers whose AAA credit ratings haven't been under threat of a downgrade in the past three months. The industry is reeling from write downs and losses tied to the collapse of the sub prime-mortgage market.

The biggest company in the industry, Armonk New York-based MBIA Inc., had its Aaa ratings affirmed by Moody's Investors Service earlier this week after raising $2.6 billion in new capital.