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Ambac Financial Group Inc., a holding company for the bond insurer being restructured by state regulators in Wisconsin, filed for bankruptcy protection to reschedule payments on more than $1 billion in bonds and other claims.

Ambac Financial Group Inc. warned that its board declined to make an interest payment and said it is negotiating plans for a prepackaged bankruptcy proceeding with senior debtholders. Shares dropped 48% to 43 cents in recent premarket trading...

Ambac warns of default as bondholders organize Tue, Jun 8 2010 * Could miss interest payment as soon as Q2 2010, default * Says considers filing bankruptcy, raising capital * Bondholders form ad hoc committee - sources * Committee to push for prepack, debt-for-equity swap * Shares fall 16 percent after hours By Emily Chasan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the bond insurer whose toxic assets were seized by Wisconsin state regulators in March, said it could default on its loan obligations and was still considering filing a prepackaged bankruptcy. The...

Ambac Faces 99% Chance of Default as Deadline Looms, Swaps Show

The death throes of the bond insurers Google Chart of ABK share price: Ambac’s share price hit an all-time low on Wednesday, falling below $1 a share for the first time in the company’s history as a public company. Why? A rather savage downgrade from S&P, which cut the bond insurer’s financial strength rating to A from AA, The outlook on the ratings is negative, meaning further cuts are likely in the medium term. S&P’s rationale (emphasis FT Alphaville’s): The rating action on Ambac reflects our view that the company’s exposures in the U.S. residential mortgage sector and particularly the...

S&P downgrades Ambac again Shares slump, but rebound in late trading on CDO commutation By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch Last update: 7:01 p.m. EST Nov. 19, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's said Wednesday that it downgraded Ambac Financial and the company's main bond insurance unit because the rating agency expects more losses from guarantees of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. S&P downgraded the senior debt of Ambac Financial (ABK AMBAC Inc) to BBB from A. It also cut Ambac Assurance Corp., the bond insurance subsidiary, to A from AA. The outlook is negative. "The company's exposures in...

Bond insurers MBIA, Ambac post bigger losses; shares dive By MarketWatch Last update: 9:54 a.m. EST Nov. 5, 2008 BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- A pair of bond insurers saw their stocks plunge Wednesday morning after they reported wider quarterly losses as the companies continue to get buffeted by their exposure to complex credit derivatives linked to the sagging housing market. Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK AMBAC Inc) said its third-quarter loss widened to $2.43 billion, or $8.45 a share, from a $360.6 million, or $3.53 a share, loss. Chart of ABK The company blamed the bigger loss on hits from credit...

Ambac, MBIA fall as Moody's warns it may cut again Ratings agency says losses on subprime mortgage securities to be much worse By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch Last update: 5:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 19, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ambac Financial and MBIA Inc. shares fell on Friday after Moody's Investors Service warned it may downgrade the beleaguered bond insurers again. Despite short selling being banned on Ambac starting Friday, shares of the two companies fell 42% and 8% respectively during afternoon trading. Moody's put the ratings of Ambac's and MBIA's main bond insurance units on review for a possible downgrade....

Patriots' affiliate sues bond insurer to block fees Securities trouble boosted costs of financing stadium NPS, a Patriots' affiliate, issued bonds to finance the new stadium, but market woes drove up the costs. By Ross Kerber Globe Staff / July 16, 2008 An affiliate of the New England Patriots football team is playing defense on a new field: the market for auction-rate securities. The Foxborough team affiliate has sued Ambac Assurance Corp., the big bond insurer, in a dispute similar to a raft of others in which institutional borrowers found that policies they took out didn't guarantee low interest rates...

Fitch Places Military Housing Transactions on Rating Watch Negative NEW YORK, Jun 30, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Fitch is placing the following military housing transaction ratings, with surety bonds from MBIA and AMBAC, on Rating Watch Negative: --Pacific Beacon LLC (CA: 23.08, -0.01, -0.04%) Military Housing (San Diego) 2006 Series A Class I 'AAA', II 'AA' & III 'A'; MBIA surety bond; --Ohana Military Communities, LLC (HI: 22.58, +1.18, +5.51%) Military Housing Revenue Bonds (Marine Corps Hawaii Housing Privatization Project) 2007 Series A Class I 'AA'& II 'A'; MBIA surety bond; --Ohana Military Communities, LLC (HI: 22.58, +1.18, +5.51%) Military Housing...

The threat of up to $10bn (£5bn) in further banking writedowns on the back of serious downgrades to the world's two largest bond insurers sent shares in New York tumbling to levels not seen since March. Credit ratings agency Moody's decision to remove MBIA and Ambac's prized Aaa ratings saw the shares values of the two "monoline" insurers fall by 13pc and 6pc respectively. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 200 points in late trading, falling well below the psychologically important 12,000 level and down 10.6 pc year-to-date. The broader S&P500 index also hit a three-month...

Bond Insurers Inflict Further Pain on the Market By Liz Rappaport and Serena Ng The long-anticipated credit-rating downgrades of the nation's big bond insurers are pressuring financial markets, perhaps worse than expected. On Thursday afternoon, MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., which together guarantee more than $1 trillion in debt, lost their triple-A financial-strength ratings from Moody's Investors Service. Moody's, which lowered MBIA's rating by five notches and Ambac's by three, was the last of the three major rating firms to cut those ratings. Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's did so earlier this year.

Ambac trading halted on NYSE Wed Mar 5, 12:12 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Trading in Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N), the bond insurer, was halted around midday Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. No further information was immediately available. Ambac shares were trading up 63 cents, or 5.9 percent, at $11.35 prior to the halt. Shares of MBIA Inc (MBI.N), another bond insurer, were up $1.22, or 9.4 percent, at $14.20. Trading in MBIA shares was not halted.

Stocks rally on word of Ambac bailout By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Sat Feb 23, 4:35 AM ET Wall Street staged a dramatic turnaround Friday, shooting higher in the last half-hour of trading after word that a bailout plan for troubled bond insurer Ambac Financial could be announced next week. The major indexes ended a week of choppy trading mixed. CNBC reported shortly before the closing bell that a plan to help shore up the finances of Ambac Financial Group Inc. could be announced Monday or Tuesday. Ambac shares jumped on the report and finished up $1.48, or 16...