Ross May Find Profit Elusive in Muni Insurance Buffett Shunned
This article is for subscribers only.
Wilbur Ross’s monopoly in municipal-bond insurance won’t guarantee higher profits.
The 72-year-old billionaire’s Assured Guaranty Ltd. is alone in the $2.8 trillion debt market after Warren Buffett, 80, stopped his Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Co. from backing new issues. After entering the industry in December 2007 with fresh capital as leaders Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc. faltered, Buffett said last year that deteriorating state and local finances had made the business “dangerous.”