Investors to take over Natixis unit
From Times Wire Services
CIFG Guaranty, the bond insurance unit of the French bank Natixis, will be taken over by the bank’s controlling shareholders in a $1.5-billion rescue to preserve its top credit rating.
The shareholders, Groupe Banque Populaire and Groupe Caisse d’Epargne, said they would provide the capital and assume full ownership “as quickly as possible.”
Mounting downgrades on insured bonds backed by assets such as mortgages are raising doubts about the stability of guarantors like CIFG.
“It’s in everybody’s interest that the situation is stabilized,” said Karl Bergqwist, a fund manager at Gartmore Investment Management in London, which manages $28 billion of debt.
