Moody's Assigns Aaa Ratings to Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation's Secondary Market Insured Transactions

...Moody s has begun to assign Aaa ratings to municipal bonds, based on bond insurance provided in the secondary ma rket by currently unrated Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation ( BHAC ) and further supported by a contingent payment insurance policy provided by Aaa-rated National Indemnity Company ( NICO insurance financial strength rati ng of Aaa, stable outlook). BHAC and NICO are ultimately wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. ( Berkshire long- term issuer rating of Aaa, stable outlook). This report will discuss our rating rationale for these transactions. As with traditional secondary market insu rance structures, the bonds to be insured are deposited into a custody account that is governed by a custody agreement. The custodian issues a custody receipt associated with each new insured obligation, with a new CUSIP. Each issuanc e of custody receipts is supported by a financial guaranty insurance policy provided by BHAC, which is currently not rated by Moody s....

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