Berkshire Hathaway Assurance

Berkshire Hathaway Assurance is a bond insurance company created by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. in December 2007.[1][2][3]

Berkshire Hathaway Assurance
TypePrivate
IndustryInsurance
FoundedDecember 2007 (2007-12) in Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Key people
Warren Buffett
(President and CEO)
ParentBerkshire Hathaway

History

Berkshire created this government bond insurance company in December 2007 to insure municipal and state bonds.[4][5] These type bonds are issued by local governments to finance public works projects such as schools, hospitals, roads, and sewer systems. Berkshire is not guaranteeing BHA, thus opening itself to competition from any number of investors who could easily assemble the $5 billion capital. BHA began insurance operations in New York, with plans to move on to California, Puerto Rico, Texas, Illinois, and Florida.[6] On February 12, 2008, Warren Buffett announced a plan to add up to $5 billion in capital to BHA to enable it to provide reinsurance on municipal bonds currently guaranteed by Ambac, MBIA, and Financial Guaranty Insurance Company.[7] Buffet also announced BHA had closed its first deal to insure $50 million in debt for a 2% fee.[7] In 2014, Moody's said its credit rating was Aa1.[8][9] It also has a rating of AAA from S&P.[10]

References
  1. Editorial, Reuters. "Company Profile | Reuters.com". U.S. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  2. "Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp: Company Profile". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  3. Bajaj, Vikas (29 December 2007). "A Deal Maker With a Hot Hand Opens His Wallet". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  4. Crippen, Alex (22 February 2008). "Buffett's Berkshire Backs Over 100 Muni Bonds In Last Two Days". CNBC. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  5. "Buffett may build bond insurer with ING reinsurer - Dec. 28, 2007". 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  6. Berkshire Hathaway to buy reinsurer, start bond insurer - MarketWatch
  7. David Ellis (2008-02-12). "Buffett offers to help ailing bond insurers". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  8. "Moody's affirms Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation's Aa1 insurance financial strength rating; outlook stable". Moodys.com. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  9. GmbH, finanzen.net. "Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation -- Moody's affirms Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation's Aa1 IFS rating; outlook stable". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  10. Chang, Sue. "S&P rates Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp. 'AAA'". MarketWatch. Retrieved 20 January 2018.


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