News

06/16/2011

Radian Announces Closing of Financial Guaranty Shell Company Acquisition

PHILADELPHIA, Jun 16, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Radian Group Inc. today announced that its financial guaranty subsidiary, Radian Asset Assurance Inc., has successfully completed the acquisition of Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Corporation (MIAC), following approval from the New York State Insurance Department. The purchase price of $82 million is $7 million above the value of MIAC's statutory capital base, which consists of approximately $75 million of cash, cash equivalents and treasury securities.

As previously announced, Radian Asset signed an agreement of purchase on February 1, 2011, for MIAC, a New York-domiciled financial guaranty insurance company that has not written any business, but has obtained licenses to do so in 36 states and the District of Columbia. This acquisition is consistent with Radian's goal of reducing its non-core risk in order to eliminate uncertainty, while maximizing the ultimate capital available to its mortgage insurance business.

"Since we stopped writing new business in Radian Asset in 2008, we have successfully reduced Radian's financial guaranty exposure by more than 30 percent," stated Chief Financial Officer Bob Quint. "This acquisition provides Radian with the flexibility to pursue strategic alternatives in the public finance market, including possibly partnering with third-party investors to write new public finance insurance and/or reinsuring all or a portion of Radian Asset's existing public finance business."

About Radian

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN), headquartered in Philadelphia, provides private mortgage insurance and related risk mitigation products and services to mortgage lenders nationwide through its principal operating subsidiary, Radian Guaranty Inc. These services help promote and preserve homeownership opportunities for homebuyers, while protecting lenders from default-related losses on residential first mortgages and facilitating the sale of low-downpayment mortgages in the secondary market. Additional information may be found at www.radian.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as "will," "expects," "believes" and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events or our future financial performance that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. As a result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements, as well as our prospects as a whole, are subject to risks and uncertainties, including our ability to successfully develop and implement a strategy to utilize MIAC in the public finance financial guaranty market, which strategy may depend on, among other items, our ability to obtain further necessary regulatory or other approvals, to attract third-party capital and to obtain ratings sufficient to support such a strategy. For more information regarding these risks and uncertainties as well as certain additional risks that we face, you should review the "Risk Factors" detailed in Item 1A of Part I of the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and in Item 1A Part II of the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2011, and subsequent reports and registration statements filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Radian Group Inc.

Radian Group Inc.
Emily Riley, 215.231.1035
email: emily.riley@radian.com