Ambac Announces Purchase of COFINA Bonds and Withdrawal of COFINA Bondholder Objection to Plan Amendment for Segregated Account Exit from Rehabilitation

NEW YORK, Dec. 28, 2017 -- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMBC) (“Ambac”), a holding company whose subsidiaries, including Ambac Assurance Corporation (“AAC”), provide financial guarantees, announced today that AAC has entered into a purchase agreement with a group of bondholders to purchase certain sales tax revenue capital appreciation bonds (the “COFINA Bonds”) held by such bondholders. With this purchase, when combined with AAC’s existing holdings and other bond purchases made during the quarter, AAC now owns 58% of its insured COFINA Bonds. 

In connection with the purchase, the COFINA bondholders have withdrawn with prejudice, their Objection to the Rehabilitator’s September 25, 2017 Motion to Further Amend the Plan of Rehabilitation Confirmed On January 24, 2011 To Facilitate An Exit From Rehabilitation of AAC’s Segregated Account. 

About Ambac
Ambac Financial Group, Inc. ("Ambac"), headquartered in New York City, is a holding company whose subsidiaries, including its principal operating subsidiaries, Ambac Assurance Corporation ("AAC"), Everspan Financial Guarantee Corp. and Ambac Assurance UK Limited ("Ambac UK"), provide financial guarantees to clients in both the public and private sectors globally. AAC, including the Segregated Account of AAC (in rehabilitation), is a guarantor of public finance and structured finance obligations. Ambac’s primary goal is to maximize stockholder value by executing the following key strategies: (i) active runoff of Ambac Assurance and its subsidiaries through transaction terminations, policy commutations, settlements and restructurings, with a focus on known and potential future adversely classified credits, that we believe will improve our risk profile, and maximizing the risk-adjusted return on invested assets, (ii) rationalization of Ambac's and its subsidiaries' capital and liability structures, enabling simplification of corporate governance and facilitating the successful rehabilitation of the Segregated Account of Ambac Assurance, (iii) loss recovery through active litigation management and exercise of contractual and legal rights, (iv) ongoing review of organizational effectiveness and efficiency of the operating platform, and (v) evaluation of opportunities in certain business sectors that meet acceptable criteria that will generate long-term stockholder value with attractive risk-adjusted returns. Ambac‘s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “AMBC”.  The Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Ambac contains substantial restrictions on the ability to transfer Ambac’s common stock. Subject to limited exceptions, any attempted transfer of common stock shall be prohibited and void to the extent that, as a result of such transfer (or any series of transfers of which such transfer is a part), any person or group of persons shall become a holder of 5% or more of Ambac’s common stock or a holder of 5% or more of Ambac's common stock increases its ownership interest.  Ambac is committed to providing timely and accurate information to the investing public, consistent with our legal and regulatory obligations. To that end, we use our website to convey information about our businesses, including the anticipated release of quarterly financial results, quarterly financial, statistical and business-related information, and the posting of updates to the status of certain residential mortgage backed securities litigations. For more information, please go to www.ambac.com.

Contact

Lisa A. Kampf
Managing Director, Investor Relations
(212) 208-3177
[email protected]