In completion of a long-term strategic initiative, Build America Mutual, the largest active municipal-only bond insurer, announced today that White Mountains Insurance Group will contribute $203 million of BAM surplus notes as permanent capital for HG Re, the captive reinsurer that provides first-loss protection for BAM’s insured portfolio. In addition, BAM and HG Re have made changes to their reinsurance treaty that will accelerate the growth in BAM’s statutory capital in future years.

S&P Global Ratings’ decision to place BAM’s rating on CreditWatch Negative represents a departure from their stated criteria and previous communications to the market. BAM’s managing directors said they intend to engage with S&P during the CreditWatch period to demonstrate that BAM’s financial strength and low-risk, low-volatility strategy of insuring only U.S. municipal bonds from essential public purpose issuers supports BAM’s current rating.

Build America Mutual today announced that S&P Global Ratings affirmed BAM’s AA rating and Stable outlook and removed BAM from CreditWatch. S&P’s decision marks the end of an intensive review of BAM’s first five years of performance and reflects the company’s transition from a “startup” to a “mature company” under S&P’s rating criteria for financial guaranty insurers.

Gross Par Outstanding Increases to $35.2 Billion as Demand for Insured Bonds Outpaces Overall Municipal Market Volume

Build America Mutual announced record results for growth in claims paying resources, statutory comprehensive income,1 pricing, and total premiums in the first quarter of 2017. The results were driven by high investor demand for BAM’s insured municipal bonds, which offset a broad decline in new- issue municipal bond volume. Par outstanding rose 7% to $35.2 billion.

Thomson Reuters’ Municipal Market Data has revised the criteria for its generic insured yield curves to include bonds guaranteed by Build America Mutual, reflecting the increasing institutional demand for BAM-insured bonds and providing municipal market participants with a more complete way to gauge the relative value of insured and uninsured municipal bonds.
“The MMD insured yield curve is an important, independent tool issuers, investors, and advisors use to monitor market conditions and estimate the value insurance adds to their transaction,” said Rick Holzinger, BAM’s Head of Investor Relations. “BAM guaranteed approximately 45% of all insured municipal bond transactions over the last year, so a large segment of the market will benefit from having access to a reference point that is relevant to their sales.”

Build America Mutual today filed its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Statutory Financial Statements, showing total claims- paying resources increased 7% on the year to $643.7 million. Gross par outstanding rose to $33.1 billion. The $14.7 million fourth quarter increase in claims-paying resources is the largest quarterly increase since the company was founded in 2012.
Build America Mutual’s Statutory Financial Statements and Operating Supplements are available in the Financial Information section of BAM’s web site at: https://live-bambondscom.pantheonsite.io/financialinformation. The financial statements have also been filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the 50 state insurance regulators that license BAM.
For more information, contact Michael Stanton, Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications, at mstanton@buildamerica.com or 212-235-2575, or Richard Holzinger, Head of Investor Relations, at rholzinger@buildamerica.com or 212-235- 2518.

Build America Mutual, the first mutual municipal bond insurer, today announced that John White, Chairman of the PFM Group, has been elected to join its Board of Directors. As CEO of PFM for more than 30 years, Mr. White played a key role in building its municipal advisory division, Public Financial Management, into the largest independent financial advisor to municipal bond issuers in the United States.

Like you, we at BAM are ready to hit the ground running, supporting municipal issuers when they access the market to finance essential public infrastructure. More than 2,200 issuers have already become members of BAM, and we’ve now insured almost $35 billion, after another record year in 2016 ($11.4 billion par insured, including more than $950 million in the secondary market). In a challenging market,
our insured bonds are a valuable source of liquidity: More than $500 million of BAM insured bonds trade hands in the secondary market in a typical week, and insurance was used more frequently on AA-category credits when interest rates rose during the fourth quarter.

Build America Mutual today filed its Third Quarter 2016 Statutory Financial Statements and published its Operating Supplement, reporting a 9.6% increase in gross par outstanding to $30.5 billion. Claims-paying resources rose $11.8 million to $629 million, the largest quarterly increase since the company was founded in 2012.
Build America Mutual’s Statutory Financial Statements and Operating Supplements are available in the Financial Information section of BAM’s web site at: https://live-bambondscom.pantheonsite.io/financialinformation. The financial statements have also been filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the 50 state insurance regulators that license BAM.
For more information, contact Michael Stanton, Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications, at mstanton@buildamerica.com or 212- 235-2575, or Richard Holzinger, Head of Investor Relations, at rholzinger@buildamerica.com or 212-235-2518

Build America Mutual (BAM), the first mutual insurer of US municipal bonds, today announced that Richard Ravitch has resigned from its board of directors, effective immediately, to devote more time to his growing public service responsibilities.
“Last week, the Governor of Puerto Rico asked me to be his representative on the Federal Oversight Board assisting the Commonwealth in managing its financial crisis. In order to avoid any appearance of conflict as I take this difficult and complex task, I am resigning from the Board of Directors of BAM, effective immediately,” Mr. Ravitch said. “It has been an honor to work with the men and women of BAM, and I wish them the best of luck in the future.”
Mr. Ravitch is an expert in municipal finance and executed successful fiscal turnarounds as the Chairman of the New York State Urban Development Corp. and, later, as Chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. More recently, he served as Lieutenant Governor of New York and co-chaired the State Fiscal Crisis Task Force with former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker. Mr. Ravitch has been a member of BAM’s Board since the company’s launch in July 2012, representing the issuer-members who utilize BAM insurance to save money on their debt-service costs.
“Dick’s insight into the competing political and fiscal pressures facing public officials in today’s economic and fiscal landscape is unmatched, and he’s been generous in sharing that perspective as we crafted the conservative underwriting standards and risk management structures that are the foundation of BAM’s insured portfolio,” said BAM Chairman Robert Cochran.
“Dick Ravitch has been a trusted advisor as BAM grew from a startup into the most active guarantor of new-issue municipal bonds in the country,” said BAM Chief Executive Officer Seán McCarthy. “We have appreciated and benefitted from his guidance, counsel, and perspective on the municipal bond market.”
BAM’s board of directors will select Mr. Ravitch’s successor.
About Build America Mutual
Build America Mutual improves municipal bond liquidity and market access for issuers by providing municipal bondholders with an unconditional, irrevocable guaranty that principal and interest will be paid on schedule. As a mutual insurer, BAM is operated for the benefit of its members – which are, exclusively, the U.S. cities, counties, towns, and other public-sector entities that use BAM’s financial guaranty to lower their cost of borrowing. BAM is sponsored by the National League of Cities. Through September 1, BAM has written more than 3,700 policies, insuring more than $31 billion of municipal securities. Learn more at: https://live-bambondscom.pantheonsite.io/about-bam/
For more information, please contact:
Michael Stanton, Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications 212-235-2575; mstanton@buildamerica.com

Build America Mutual on August 10 filed its Second Quarter 2016 Statutory Financial Statements and published its Operating Supplement, reporting an 13% increase in gross par outstanding to $27.8 billion. Claims-paying resources rose $10.1 million to $617.2 million, the largest quarterly increase since the company was founded in 2012.
Build America Mutual’s Statutory Financial Statements and Operating Supplements are available in the Financial Information section of BAM’s web site at: https://live-bambondscom.pantheonsite.io/financialinformation. The financial statements have also been filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the 50 state insurance regulators that license BAM.
For more information, contact Michael Stanton, Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications, at mstanton@buildamerica.com or 212- 235-2575.

S&P Global Ratings affirmed Build America Mutual’s AA rating with a stable outlook, citing the insurer’s “extremely strong” capital, “prudent” underwriting strategy, and a “well-developed strategic plan [that] ensures liquidity of BAM’s insured paper.”
In assigning the rating, S&P recognized BAM’s unique mutual structure, which supports BAM’s long-term financial stability because “BAM’s owners are focused on a stable, low-cost source of financial guarantee support rather than a high return on investment.” BAM focuses on insuring U.S. municipal bonds for essential public purposes and its members are the issuers who use its guaranty to save money on their bond sales. S&P noted that BAM does not have any exposure to issuers in Puerto Rico.
In addition, S&P noted that “BAM provides market participants significant transparency in its insured portfolio through its website,” where BAM publishes a Credit Profile for every bond it insures, and updates them annually.
“BAM’s mission is to serve as an industry utility that provides strong, durable ratings and enhanced transparency for small- and medium-sized issuers and the investors in their bonds,” said BAM Chief Executive Officer Seán W. McCarthy. “The structural and operating strengths S&P recognized are what allow us to fulfill that mission and keep expanding our insured portfolio and claims-paying resources.”
S&P has rated BAM AA, the highest rating it currently assigns to any active financial guarantor, since it was launched in 2012. Since then, BAM has insured more than $30 billion of municipal bonds in more than 3,500 primary- and secondary market transactions.
About Build America Mutual
Build America Mutual improves municipal bond liquidity and market access for issuers by providing municipal bondholders with an unconditional, irrevocable guaranty that principal and interest will be paid on schedule. As a mutual insurer, BAM is operated for the benefit of its members – which are, exclusively, the U.S. cities, counties, towns, and other public-sector entities that use BAM’s financial guaranty to lower their cost of borrowing. BAM is sponsored by the National League of Cities. Learn more at: https://live-bambondscom.pantheonsite.io/about-bam/
For more information, please contact:
Michael Stanton, Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications 212-235-2575; mstanton@buildamerica.com