ABK ABKFQ - Ambac Financial Group - Page 5

Loving it!!!

AP
Ambac insuring $264 million for Air Force project
Friday July 11, 3:49 pm ET
Ambac Financial Group insuring $264 million for Air Force housing unit project

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. said Friday it is insuring a $264 million privatization of 3,500 Air Force housing units.

The project to privatize 3,500 existing single-family and townhouse-style housing units will take place at three separate bases. Ambac is collaborating with the Air Force, Balfour Beatty Construction Co., and Capmark Finance.

The bases involved include Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Wash., Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif.

At the end of the seven-year development period, the financing will provide 2,400 new and rehabilitated homes for service members and their families at the bases, Ambac said.

The project will include $264 million in taxable mortgage loans insured by Ambac. In addition to the insured loans, other sources of funds will include a $137 million subordinate loan provided by the Air Force; an equity contribution of $14 million from the developer; a $6 million equity contribution from the Air Force, and net operating income and interest earnings during the development period.

Shares of Ambac rose 8 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.68 in afternoon trading.

hmmm...I maybe this will breakout again. I'll be watching Monday with my finger on the trigger.

Heads up on ABK, we will get more action here if financials can sustain this bounce.

Lookin' ready to pop.

Pretty thin after $2.00

Anyone else get into this???

I'm in... picked up some today.

New England Patriots sues Ambac over fees -report
Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:49pm EDT

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - The New England Patriots football team, whose debt included auction rate securities, have filed a law suit to recover fees from bond insurer Ambac Financial Group (ABK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said an affiliate of the team, NPS LLC, refinanced the debt but is suing Ambac over $2.8 million in fees.

Spokesmen for the team and for Ambac were not immediately available.

Auction rate securities are long-term securities whose rates are reset at periodic short-term auctions. The auction rate market began freezing in late January amid the credit crunch, and issuers faced unexpectedly high interest rates demanded by investors.

In February, a market source told Reuters the football team had $71 million in taxable auction rate debt.

The Patriots were forced pay a 20 percent interest rate until they switched to more frequent auctions. There was no information available on what the financing paid for.

The Boston Globe in 2001 had reported that Patriots owner Robert Kraft had financed a $300 million stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, via the 28-day auction rate security market, after buying insurance from Ambac that lifted the deal to "AAA." (Reporting by Joan Gralla; editing by Leslie Adler)

Weak news.

Don't get my intentions misplaced. I agree that the PR should have little effect on ABK's operations as a whole and will reflect minimally in their share price. But, I always like to arm myself with as much knowledge about a company that I am either already long in, or considering taking a long position in. Knowing what may be brewing will help me make somewhat sane choices. Although, even given loads of info, I've burned myself on several occasions.

My remark wasn't a personal shot at you. Just commenting on the pr. Thanks for the post.

Gapper...

Last: 2.24 Change: +0.15 (+7.18%) Bid: 2.21 x1,900 Ask: 2.25 x5,000

Could this bank go the same way as Indymac?

Getting ready to POP. Trying to break HOD at 2.6

There it goes!

Out at 2.66 for a 7% gain, yeah!

MBIA, Ambac fall on concern about plans to start new units
3:00 PM ET 7/28/08 | Marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial fell Monday on concern the bond insurers may struggle to get crucial top ratings for new municipal bond units they're planning.

MBIA (MBI) was downgraded to in line from outperform by Gary Ransom and Amit Kumar, analysts at Fox-Pitt, Kelton Cochran Caronia.

MBIA shares fell 7.6% to $4.50 during afternoon trading on Monday, while Ambac dropped 8.8% to $1.96.

MBIA and Ambac have lost their triple-A credit ratings this year as guarantees they sold on mortgage-backed securities and more complex mortgage-related securities called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, soured. Without top ratings, bond insurers struggle to sell new policies.

Ambac (ABK) is now hoping to pump capital into a subsidiary called Connie Lee and launch it as a new bond insurance business focused on guaranteeing municipal debt and global infrastructure deals. See full story.

MBIA is considering a similar strategy. See full story.

However, for these new units to thrive, they would likely need to garner triple-A ratings from top ratings agencies including Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's.

That looked less likely last week after Moody's warned it may downgrade its Aaa ratings on Assured Guaranty and Financial Security Assurance, the only two incumbent bond insurers that had been able to hang on to their top ratings. See full story.

Moody's decision to put Assured Guaranty on review wasn't just based on whether the insurer had enough spare capital to cushion it against losses in a worst-case scenario, the company noted last week.

The ratings agency was also unclear whether the creation of a separate unit to focus on guaranteeing muni bonds would help Assured Guaranty, Fox-Pitt's Ransom and Kumar said on Monday.

"Moody's appears to be on a path to remove all the triple-As from the major financial guarantors," the analysts wrote in a note to investors. "Moody's action also raises the question of whether the creation of a new municipal insurance entity, as Ambac and MBIA are attempting to do, will be a successful business model."

"Rating agency approval stands squarely on the critical path for successful restructuring at Ambac and MBIA, and Moody's recent action makes it more difficult get past that milestone," they wrote.

The analysts also downgraded RAM Holdings (RAMR) to in line from outperform on Monday.

RAM, a bond reinsurance company, fell 3.1% to 95 cents.

2.33 x 2.34 +.22

Go Baby Go!!