Assured Guaranty Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 8, 2024

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Assured Guaranty Limited Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Bruno, and I'll be operating your call today. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to our host, Robert Tucker, Senior Managing Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining Assured Guaranty for our Q2 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's presentation is made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The presentation may contain forward looking statements about our new business and credit outlooks, market conditions, credit spreads, financial ratings, loss reserves, financial results or other items that may affect our future results. These statements are subject to change due to new information or future events. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them as we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise them except as required by law.

Speaker 1

If you're listening to a replay of this call or if you're reading the transcript of the call, please note that our statements made today may have been updated since this call. Please refer to the Investor Information section of our website for our most recent presentations and SEC filings, most current financial filings and for the risk factors. This presentation also includes references to non GAAP financial measures. We present the GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to the non GAAP financial measures referenced in this presentation, along with a reconciliation between such GAAP and non GAAP financial measures in our current financial supplement and equity investor presentation, which are on our website at assuredguaranty.com. Turning to the presentation, our speakers today are Dominic Frederico, President and Chief Executive Officer of Assured Guaranty Limited Rob Bailenson, our Chief Operating Officer and Ben Rosenblum, our Chief Financial Officer.

Speaker 1

After their remarks, we will open the call to your questions. As the webcast is not enabled for Q and A, please dial into the call if you'd like to ask a question. I will now turn the call over to Dominic.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Robert, and welcome to everyone joining today's call. Assured Guaranty had an exceptional second quarter and first half of twenty twenty four. Adjusted operating income per share came in at $1.44 for the Q2 of 2024 compared with $0.60 in the Q2 of last year. Our key shareholder valuation measures again reached new per share highs. Since June 30, 2023, on a per share basis, shareholders' equity rose 16%, adjusted operating shareholders' equity rose 15% and adjusted book value rose 12%.

Speaker 2

New business production for the first half remained strong consistent with recent year's results and was diversified across U. S. Public finance, international infrastructure and global structured finance. The first half PVP of $218,000,000 more than in any first half since 2,009 with the sole exception of first half twenty eighteen, where we assumed a large portfolio from another bond insurer. Rob will give you more production details in a few minutes.

Speaker 2

But first, I want to discuss the merger we completed last week of Assured Guaranty Municipal into Assured Guaranty, Inc, which is the same company you knew for many years as Assured Guaranty Corp. Those two companies have been our principal insurance operating subsidiary since 2,009 when Assured Guaranty purchased FSA, later renaming it AGM. The rationale for operating them separately no longer exists. And we see the merger as beneficial to all of our stakeholders. Assured Guaranteed Inc.

Speaker 2

Is the surviving company and its acronym is simply AG. This simplification of our brand marketing is only one of the many benefits. 2 of the primary objectives of the merger are to achieve more efficient utilization of the combined capital of the 2 companies and to increase operating efficiencies. This includes having 1 principal U. S.

Speaker 2

Regulator, Maryland. By aggregating the 2 platforms into a single insurance company, the merger enlarges the pool of capital and claims paying resources available to support each insurance company's policies resulted in further diversification of the single company's insured portfolios credit profile. Both companies insured portfolios had contained public and infrastructure finance exposures and structured finance exposures. The combined company will continue to serve the same markets. To be clear, all obligations of AGM are now obligations of AG.

Speaker 2

In all other respects, the policy has the same terms as when they were issued. AGM's U. K. And European subsidiaries are now subsidiaries of AG. At the time of the merger, AG and AGM had identical financial strength ratings, AA plus at KBRA, AA at S and P and A1 at Moody's, all with stable outlooks.

Speaker 2

All three rating agencies have indicated that they see no change to assure Guaranteed's financial strength rating as a result of the merger. KBRA wrote that it views the merger and the result simplification of the overall organization structure as creating capital, operational and regulatory efficiencies as well as enhancing Assured Guaranty Limited's overall global platform and scale. Moody said it believes the merger results in a moderate strengthening of AG's credit profile relative to those of pre merger AG and AGN. S and P has always rated our guarantees based on the capital adequacy of the entire group, so it was already taking both companies' exposures into account. For the merger, AGM and AG were each over capitalized and each has experienced a substantial reduction in its insured exposure since 2010, while their statutory capital increased materially during the same period.

Speaker 2

In connection with the merger, we upstreamed $300,000,000 through a special dividend, technically a stock redemption that the Merrell Insurance Administration approved. And this followed the $100,000,000 stock redemption by AGM during the Q2. Rating agencies took these transfers into account when considering the combined company's ratings. There's more information about the combined company in a presentation on our website, where you can also find a Q and A with more detail on the merger, our press releases about both the merger and the rating agency decisions and the full rating agency announcements. With the consolidation of the Merr subsidiaries, the new AG is very well positioned for future growth and efficient operational success, building on Assured Guaranty's excellent first half twenty twenty four production and financial results.

Speaker 2

We remain committed to our share repurchase program with a target this year of $500,000,000 As of August 6, 2024, the company had repurchased 7.2 percent of the shares that were outstanding on December 31, 2023 and was authorized to repurchase an additional $275,000,000 of its common shares. In June of this year, we saw a favorable ruling in the restructuring case of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, PREPA, our last remaining nonpaying Puerto Rico exposure. The appeals court reversed several lower court findings, looking at the utilities bondholders had a perfected lean not just on trust agreement accounts, but also on past, present and future net revenues as well. The appeals court also determined investors allowed claims to be the face amount of the utility bonds plus interest about $8,500,000,000 which is more than the prior $2,400,000,000 cap set by the lower court. The lower court has ordered the party to resume mediation in light of the appeals court ruling and we look forward to working with all parties to reach a fair resolution of the PREPA restructuring.

Speaker 2

Uncertainty this year about economic, geopolitical and financial volatility reminded investors why it's good to have investments that are protected by our insurance. Our guarantee has unique value for bond investors who need protection from what can't be predicted and bond issuers can reduce their financing costs by issuing bonds with the extra protection of our guarantee. Assured Guaranty has proven its reliability over the past 4 decades, consistently meeting our obligations and returning excess capital to our shareholders while maintaining a high level of financial strength, a base of predictable earnings and market leadership. We have high potential for growth in our worldwide financial guarantee business. With our new more efficient organizational structure, we believe that we've never been better positioned to serve our clients, protect our policyholders and create value for our shareholders.

Speaker 2

I will now turn the call over to Rob to discuss our production results.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Dominic. Assured Guaranty and in particular, U. S. Public Finance had very strong first half results for 2024. In fact, it was one of our strongest production halves since 2,009.

Speaker 3

As Dominic mentioned, new business production for the first half continued to be diversified across U. S. Public finance, international infrastructure and global structured finance. First half PVP of $218,000,000 was the largest amount of total first half PPP since 2,009, with the exception of first half twenty eighteen when our assumption of a large portfolio from another insurer sharply increased our PDP results. Bond insurance penetration remained comparatively high at 8.2% for the first half and 8.9% for the Q2 of 2024, a continuation of the increased demand for bond insurance that we have seen since 2020.

Speaker 3

Bond insurance is increasingly being utilized across a variety of transactions ranging from very small to very large in size. We believe that more investors have realized that in addition to the security it provides, our bond insurance can potentially support price stability and market liquidity and that issuers are using it to obtain greater certainty of execution in less predictable market environments in addition to reducing financing costs. Short Guaranty continued its market leadership position for the first half of twenty twenty four, ensuring $10,800,000,000 of primary par, which represented 56% of the insured par sold in the primary market. Year over year, for the first half of twenty twenty four, Assured Guaranty's primary market insured par increased by 11%. In the 2nd quarter, Assured Guaranty's primary market share was 58% based on a 13% increase year over year in insured primary market par sold for a total of $7,200,000,000 One driver of our production is the ongoing demand for our guarantee on larger transactions, which typically see interest from institutional investors.

Speaker 3

For the first half of twenty twenty four, Assured Guaranty insured 21 transactions that each utilized $100,000,000 or more of Assured Guaranty Insurance, 14 of which were in the Q2. We saw significant opportunities in large, high margin transactions during the first half. 3 of the largest transactions sold in the municipal market during the first half of twenty twenty four carried insurance from Assured Guaranty. $1,100,000,000 of insurance for the BrightLine Florida Passenger Rail project, where we insured a majority of the senior bonds, dollars 800,000,000 for the new Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy Airport and $831,000,000 for a dormitory authority of the State of New York School District revenue bond issue.

Speaker 3

The BrightLine project is the 1st private sector passenger rail system built in the U. S. In over a century. The JFK project is the largest U. S.

Speaker 3

Public private partnership transportation project, and the DASNY issue helped 69 school districts finance capital improvements. We were pleased to continue adding value on AA credits during the first half of twenty twenty four as we insured $2,500,000,000 of par on 54 deals. We believe that investors see the extra protection of our guarantee as a mitigant of downgrade and market value risks. Non U. S.

Speaker 3

Public finance produced $34,000,000 of PVP during the first half of twenty twenty four, consistent with the $36,000,000 in the first half of twenty twenty three. 2nd quarter activity included primarily secondary market guarantees of several U. K.-regulated utility and airport transactions. Our pipeline of potential international public finance transactions includes a significant number that we consider likely to close later in 2024. Global structured finance produced $25,000,000 of first half PDP, a solid result.

Speaker 3

We continue to see opportunities with banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset backed investor clients across sectors, including pooled corporate and fund finance. One additional note about the strength of our 2nd quarter production. Our $155,000,000 of 2nd quarter PVP was $64,000,000 higher than that of the Q2 2023. And in terms of direct PVP production, the Q2 of 2024 was our best 2nd quarter since 2,009. We believe we can build on our impressive performance in the 1st two quarters to complete the year with strong production results.

Speaker 3

I will now turn the call over to Ben to talk more about our financial results.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Rob and Dominic, and good morning. I am pleased to report Q2 2024adjustedoperatingincome of $80,000,000 or $1.44 per share, which is more than double the $36,000,000 or $0.60 per share reported in the Q2 of 2023. The insurance segment, which contributed $116,000,000 of adjusted operating income in the Q2 of 2024, up from $106,000,000 in the Q2 of 2023 had a few noteworthy items. First, we had no loss expense in the Q2 of 2024 compared with $44,000,000 in the Q2 of 2023. While we did have $21,000,000 of economic loss development in the Q2 of 2024, primarily related to certain health care transactions, there was sufficient deferred premium revenue to absorb the development for the quarter, resulting in no loss expense.

Speaker 4

2nd, we had a $10,000,000 increase in equity and earnings, which represents the returns on alternative investments, primarily due to gains in CLO equity tranches and higher invested balances in the Q2 of 2024 compared with the Q2 of 2023. Fair value changes of assets underlying the alternative investments may cause volatility in adjusted operating income from quarter to quarter. However, on an inception to date basis, they have generated an annualized internal rate of return of 14% in the Insurance segment. These increases were partially offset by lower fair value gains on the Puerto Rico contingent value instruments, which was $17,000,000 in the Q2 of 2024 compared with $40,000,000 in the Q2 of 2023. As of June 30, the fair value of the remaining CVI was $221,000,000 Our deferred revenue, which represents the storehouse of future earnings in the Insurance segment remained strong at $3,900,000,000 and is a direct result of the new business production that Rob discussed.

Speaker 4

For the Q2 of 2023, the Asset Management segment results consisted of Assured I'm results as was still a wholly owned consolidated entity. Since the closing of the SoundPoint and AHP transactions in July of 2023, the Asset Management segment primarily includes

Operator

our

Speaker 4

equity pickup

Speaker 2

on

Speaker 4

the SoundPoint investments, which is on a quarter lag and is reported net of amortization of intangible assets and continuing performance fees on asset based and health care strategies. The Q2 2024 income from SoundPoint was close to breakeven, which is in line with our seasonally adjusted expectations as GAAP revenue recognition rules result in SoundPoint's performance fees generally being recognized towards the end of their calendar year. On the capital management front, in the Q2 of 2024, we repurchased 1,900,000 shares for $152,000,000 at an average price of $78.50 per share. Stock buybacks continue to be one of our most accretive strategies. Our remaining authorization is approximately $275,000,000 In terms of the holding company liquidity position, we have cash and investments of approximately $308,000,000 of which $55,000,000 resides in AGL.

Speaker 4

The share repurchase program along with adjusted operating income and new business production collectively contributed to new records for adjusted operating shareholders' equity per share of over $109 and adjusted book value per share of over $161 While adjusted operating income varies from period to period, the consistent quarterly increases in these book value metrics reflect how the successful execution of all our key strategic initiatives build shareholder values over the long term. As Dominic mentioned, the AGM AG merger along with $400,000,000 of stock redemptions results in capital efficiencies and demonstrates the continued execution of our key strategic initiatives. About $270,000,000 of the stock redemptions were in cash, while the remainder consisted of alternative investments. These stock redemptions are available for use in corporate initiatives, including share repurchases. I'll now turn the call over to our operator to give you the instructions for the Q and A period.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Tommy Mokjoint from KBW. Tommy, your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Starting off on PREPA, you mentioned and we saw the appeals court ruling in June. Can you just walk through the, I guess, process for how sort of you guys seeing that information, that court ruling impacts what you guys ultimately book as your sort of loss reserve or recovery around that specific credit in the quarter? I guess we were a little bit surprised not to see a more favorable mark once that ruling came through.

Speaker 2

Well, I'll give you the top and I'll let Ben give you the bottom. So at the top, the ruling is very favorable and obviously it's a ruling that we had expected all along as the judge continued to avoid the law, ignore the contract that was signed. So we thought that was going to be the outcome number 1. Number 2, there's still a lot of road to hoe relative to appeals. Number 3, timing does matter in how you look at your reserving in terms of when the settlements would actually take place.

Speaker 2

So we did adjust scenarios, but we thought it would be prudent because of the open areas in terms of mediation and appeals in terms of what an ultimate decision will be. So you got to continue to rely on these scenario analysis and probability weightings. And we've done, I thought, the right thing in keeping it kind of consistent while we wait for further information and further activity.

Speaker 4

I would say, Dominic pretty much took all the words out of my mouth. Couldn't have said it any better. I mean you have scenarios and a lot of our scenarios assume that we were going to win. We knew we had a very strong case and now we just have to see it through and timing as we said does matter.

Speaker 5

Okay, got it. And then switching topics, switching over to I guess capital, kind of stick with me here where I walk through some numbers. So you've gotten $400,000,000 of special dividend sort of capital releases out of the subs to the holding company already this year. On Slide 16, it looks like the regular way dividend limitation is $483,000,000 combined. So that's together nearly $900,000,000 combined.

Speaker 5

I know the holding company has about $200,000,000 of cash expenses annually. So that still leaves about $700,000,000 That's about $200,000,000 in excess of your $500,000,000 annual buyback target. Do you have any plans for what you'll look to do with that extra couple of $100,000,000 of liquidity?

Speaker 2

Well, remember, it's a $500,000,000 target per year and obviously we like to make sure we have enough cash in the foreseeable future to meet that obligation as it comes due. Plus it gives us some flexibility as we hold on to the additional balances just in case we see something as an accretive opportunity, be it an acquisition, be it another business opportunity. But by and large, it's there for share repurchase. And as we said, we've always looked at a $500,000,000 target. So this kind of ensures that 2025 looks pretty damn good as well.

Speaker 5

On the acquisition opportunity front, is there anything that you guys are actively looking at right now?

Speaker 2

Other than the remaining monoline, which we've always talked about as an opportunity, but they're only not capital consumptive at this point. So the answer would be no at this point in time for other acquisitions.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

You're welcome. Our next question comes from Giuliano Bologna from Compass Point. Giuliano, your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hi, Giuliano. Congratulations on another great quarter. I was curious when you think about the question it sounds like the preference at this point is to kind of extend the runway of the $500,000,000 buyback pace. And then it sounds like obviously, it sounds like and looks like you're in a very good position for 2025. I'm curious how you think about that long term.

Speaker 6

Obviously, you're in a great position for the next couple of years. Is that the way you'd like to run your capital return strategy for the few years going forward? And do you think at some point it would evolve to more reinvestment into the business? Or how do you think about that longer term?

Speaker 2

Well, we'll still continue to evaluate it as the most accretive transaction. So as long as we continue to look at that runway and the runway is positive, we're going to continue to execute on that basis. And this gives us tremendous flexibility as well. We've stuck with the $500,000,000 right, wrong or indifferent. We think that's been the best way to apply it.

Speaker 2

It's provided consistent support for the stock. It's allowed the valuation to continue to increase, nowhere near where we expect it to be and where we expect it to get to ultimately. But we still think it's the most prudent way to go. And like you said, this really does clear the runway for quite a period of time.

Speaker 6

That's very helpful. And then on the new business front, you obviously had some very good wins on the some larger transactions that are obviously have some very interesting institutional demand. I'm curious if there is if you see any opportunities on the structure side of the business or on the international side that could be accretive and scale in the near term?

Speaker 2

It's Mr. Bailenson ready to jump out of his chair. I'll let him answer the question.

Speaker 3

Yes. We are seeing a lot of opportunities in structured finance in international infrastructure markets. Because the number of subscription finance transactions, direct lending, pooled corporates, whole business securitizations, transportation and regulated utility sectors. We're seeing this across the U. K, Continental Europe, North America and Australia.

Speaker 3

We have put resources, as you know, into Australia, and we're seeing some early successes there in structured finance as well as infrastructure. So we're really excited about that opportunity.

Speaker 6

That's very helpful. Thank you. I appreciate your time and I'll jump back in the queue.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Julian.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeffrey Dunn from Dowling Partners. Jeffrey, your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Good morning.

Speaker 3

Good morning, Jeff. Can you talk

Speaker 7

a little bit about the healthcare issues that you're facing? And

Speaker 6

what's causing some of the

Speaker 7

pressure on those deals? I know it's modest development we saw this quarter on an economic basis, but what are the pressures there? And more importantly, what are your protections

Speaker 2

on those deals? Let me start from the top. So remember, when we look at healthcare, we always look at essential services, major leaders in the provide ourselves with other covenants to protect our position. Obviously, coming through COVID, that caused a tremendous spike in pricing, both nursing and supplies. Labor costs went through the roof, other costs went through the roof.

Speaker 2

And I think it's been a while for both the 3rd party reimbursement to adjust as well as the hospitals themselves to adjust. But as we've seen in our book of business, things continue to improve. As I said, we've got tremendous covenants and protections. So we're still very optimistic about the value of healthcare and we only get paid when problems exist. So we're happy to make sure that the opportunities that we see in the market are realized.

Speaker 2

We typically have mortgages on the properties. We have liquidity constraints. We got debt service reserve covenants. We got debt service or debt service coverage covenants. So as I said, it's a well protected portfolio.

Speaker 2

Obviously, the stress has been caused mostly by COVID and inflation, but we see the hospitals now starting to address that and the results are improving. And as I said, the protections are pretty strong. We still like the business. We get paid when there's problems in the market. So it's a great opportunity for us to increase overall production as well as the return of those individual policies.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 7

And then the other question I have, I'm not sure you can answer it, but obviously the company's ROE is diluted with all the excess capital that you're sitting on. Can you give a range as to what the underlying operating ROE looks like if you were running at efficiency?

Speaker 2

No, we have a target that we got to get to double digit in every business that we write relative to the overall business written by each of the profit centers that structured international and domestic public finance. So that's still the goal. What's killing us is obviously the excess capital that we carry, which has principally been in response to the problems in the past, the Great Recession, the pandemic, Puerto Rico. As those things now dissolve and basically dissipate, biggest target we're having in the company is how much of a cushion we want to keep on the excess capital and then take the rest of the capital down to that level. But as you know, with statutory limitations that we have, it's going to take some years to get there, but we have a plan to get there over the near term.

Speaker 2

We're confident both in the growth in the business, further diversification through things like asset management, we'll be able to achieve an increase in the ER. And as I said, the E is coming down based on the schedule that we established in terms of capital management, maybe not coming down as fast as we'd like. If I told you what the excess capital was, it's basically the same as it was back in 2013 when we started the buyback. And I think bought back $5,200,000,000 I think of stock. We're still back to the same spot of excess capital, which is probably a good problem and a bad problem, but it does affect the ROE.

Speaker 2

We're still working to make sure that we can make a meaningful dent into that excess capital.

Speaker 3

And Jeff, as Dominic said, as we expand internationally in structured finance, international infrastructure, those ROEs are mid teens or even higher. So as we grow those that sector, it really adds to the R, to the return to the numerator, but it does come over time.

Speaker 2

So is it fair to say that this is

Speaker 7

more like the whole organization business versus the 10% to

Speaker 2

Oh, the international? Could be even higher. Higher than that, yes, exactly.

Speaker 3

Depends on the mix.

Speaker 7

Remember, we

Speaker 2

earned very little premium. Jeff, remember, we take a long lead time when earning premium, right?

Speaker 3

Takes a while to come through.

Speaker 2

Low amortization of the under premium reserve. When you think about each year's business contributes about 8% to the bottom line, it takes a while to get the meaningful change. But as we see the production building, that will help tremendously 2 or 3 years out.

Speaker 7

Okay. And I guess just a follow-up. Your comment about the capital being the same the excess capital same as 13 is it's a little bit ironic with how much you've returned. You're sprinting to stay still here.

Operator

How do

Speaker 7

you get ahead of that? Because your earnings strength continues? It's a

Speaker 2

good problem and it's a bad problem. But remember the Sprint and then why we're at the same spot is because of really what I'll call unique opportunities that we took advantage of, buying all the competitors up at huge discounts to capital, doing some large reinsurance deals, by doing some refinancing or restructuring of our capital base, mergers, eliminations of other companies. So we've had these unique transactions that have really accelerated earnings, the refunding wave based on the zero interest rate environment. So now we see that kind of has dissipated a bit and now it's solid core earnings type of thing growth of the core businesses. So we're now more confident that we'll be able to make a real debt on the capital over the next few years.

Speaker 2

And our projections show it that way, Jeff, as well. All

Speaker 7

right. Great.

Speaker 2

You're welcome.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back to our host, Robert Tucker, for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. I'd like to thank everyone for joining us on today's call. If you have additional questions, please feel free to give us a call. Thank you very much.

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