NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMBC), a holding company whose subsidiaries, including Ambac Assurance Corporation, provide financial guarantees and other financial services, today announced the appointment of Claude LeBlanc as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ambac, effective as of January 1, 2017. Mr. LeBlanc, a seasoned financial services executive with more than 25 years of experience in structured finance, debt and equity capital markets, business restructuring and capital management, will also join the Ambac Board of Directors. He succeeds Nader Tavakoli, who has resigned from his roles as President and CEO and as a Director of Ambac, effective immediately, to pursue other opportunities.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Nader for his many contributions to Ambac,” said Jeffrey S. Stein, Chairman of the Ambac Board. “Under Nader’s leadership, and with the support of the strong management team in place, the company has accomplished a number of key objectives in recent years. With this strong foundation, and as we look to build on our significant progress, Ambac is well positioned to transition the company’s leadership.”

Mr. Tavakoli said, “I am delighted to have served Ambac as CEO during an extremely active and exciting time when we made tremendous progress for the company's stakeholders. I would like to thank the many dedicated and talented employees of the company for having helped achieve our many advances, positioning the company so well for future success, and contributing to the significant improvements in book value and adjusted book value¹, as well as other metrics, since AFG's emergence from bankruptcy in 2013. I wish Claude LeBlanc and the company every success in the future."

Mr. Stein continued, “Claude has more than two decades of financial services experience, giving the Board confidence that he is the right leader for Ambac as the company continues to concentrate on asset liability management and selective business transactions offering attractive risk adjusted returns that, among other things, may permit utilization of Ambac’s tax net operating loss carry-forwards. We expect to benefit greatly from Claude’s significant expertise as Ambac executes its strategic priorities.”

Mr. LeBlanc said, “I look forward to working with Ambac’s Board, talented management team, dedicated employees and primary regulator to continue executing the company’s strategies to optimize assets and reduce liabilities, while maintaining a clear focus on risk and regulatory matters.”

The company has entered into a separation agreement with Mr. Tavakoli, pursuant to which the term of his employment will end on December 31, 2016. Additional details are included in a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Stein will oversee the business and affairs of the Company, at the direction of the Board, through the end of 2016.

About Claude LeBlanc
Mr. LeBlanc will depart as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer of Syncora Holdings Ltd., effective December 31, 2016, consistent with Syncora’s announced succession plan. In this role, which he has held since 2010, he actively led global remediation and asset recovery initiatives, evaluated strategic alternatives for the company and oversaw the finance and risk functions. During his term, Syncora created approximately $5 billion in surplus and reduced its insured exposure by over $140 billion. Mr. LeBlanc also led Syncora’s recent and successful $1.2 billion restructuring and securities exchange offer transaction. He previously served as Special Advisor to Syncora’s Board of Directors beginning in 2008. As Special Advisor, he led the successful restructuring of the company during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Mr. LeBlanc joined Syncora in 2006 as Executive Vice President and was responsible for all corporate development activities, strategic development, capital planning, and management of key bank and rating agency relationships.

Prior to joining Syncora, Mr. LeBlanc served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy and as a member of the executive management group for XL Capital Ltd. In this role, he led various global corporate development initiatives, oversaw and managed significant capital market transactions, and, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Staff, was responsible for global strategy development and capital management. Prior to joining XL Capital in 2002, he served as Chief Operating Officer and a member of the executive management team for Transworld Network International, a North American telecommunications group where he led corporate development, financial planning, and certain business operations. Mr. LeBlanc began his career in 1991 at PricewaterhouseCoopers and later served as Vice President of Financial Advisory Services in 1997 when he advised on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and transaction advisory.

About Ambac Financial Group
Ambac Financial Group, Inc. ("Ambac"), headquartered in New York City, is a holding company whose subsidiaries, including its principal operating subsidiaries, Ambac Assurance Corporation ("AAC"), Everspan Financial Guarantee Corp., and Ambac Assurance UK Limited ("Ambac UK"), provide financial guarantees and other financial services to clients in both the public and private sectors globally. AAC, including the Segregated Account of AAC (in rehabilitation), is a guarantor of public finance and structured finance obligations. Ambac’s primary goal is to maximize stockholder value by executing the following key strategies: active runoff of AAC and its subsidiaries through accretive transaction terminations, policy commutations, settlements and restructurings, and maximizing the risk-adjusted return on invested assets; loss recovery through litigation and exercise of contractual and legal rights; improved cost effectiveness and efficiency of the operating platform; rationalization of AAC's capital and liability structures, enabling simplification of corporate governance and facilitating the successful rehabilitation of the Segregated Account; and selective business transactions offering attractive risk adjusted returns that, among other things, may permit utilization of Ambac’s tax net operating loss carry-forwards. Ambac‘s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “AMBC”. The Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Ambac contains substantial restrictions on the ability to transfer Ambac’s common stock. Subject to limited exceptions, any attempted transfer of common stock shall be prohibited and void to the extent that, as a result of such transfer (or any series of transfers of which such transfer is a part), any person or group of persons shall become a holder of 5% or more of Ambac’s common stock. Ambac is committed to providing timely and accurate information to the investing public, consistent with our legal and regulatory obligations. To that end, we use our website to convey information about our businesses, including the anticipated release of quarterly financial results, quarterly financial, statistical and business-related information, and the posting of updates to the status of certain primary residential mortgage backed securities litigations. For more information, please go to www.ambac.com.