Assured Guaranty to Buy Dexia's FSA Holding

Dexia SA, based in Paris and Brussels, plans to sell FSA Holding, its U.S. bond insurance business, to Assured Guaranty (AGO Quote - Cramer on AGO - Stock Picks) for $722 million.

The bank said Friday its financial products activity is excluded from the transaction.

Under the terms of the deal, Dexia will receive $361 million in cash and 44.6 million newly issued Assured Guaranty shares.

Dexia, meanwhile, reported it swung to a third-quarter loss of 1.5 billion euros, "reflecting a major negative impact from the financial crisis" of 2.2 billion euros. Last year, earnings were 439 million euros.