Ambac Meets Necessary Pre-closing Conditions In Proposed Sale Of Legacy Financial Guarantee Business

(RTTNews) - Ambac Financial Group Inc. (AMBC) Monday announced that it has met all of its necessary pre-closing conditions under its deal to sell its legacy financial guarantee businesses, Ambac Assurance Corp. and Ambac Assurance UK Limited, to funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.

Oaktree continues to pursue the final outstanding regulatory approval, which is expected to be received in the second quarter. With this, and consistent with the terms of the purchase deal, the term of the purchase agreement has been automatically extended to July 3 from April 4.

Ambac President and Chief Executive Officer Claude LeBlanc said, "The regulatory review process between Oaktree and the regulator continues to progress. Ambac is prepared to close the sale as soon as possible upon receipt of the final outstanding regulatory approval."

It was in June last year that the New York City-based insurance holding company signed a definitive agreement to sell its legacy financial guarantee businesses to Oaktree Capital funds for $420 million in cash. Additionally, Oaktree agreed to receive warrants to acquire up to 9.9% of Ambac common stock at a strike price of $18.50.

In October, Ambac shareholders voted to approve the proposed purchase agreement.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, Ambac shares were losing around 1.3 percent to trade at $7.00.