Standard & Poor’s Tuesday upgraded its general obligation bond rating for the Palomar Pomerado Health District by three notches, to A-plus from BBB-plus. The action doesn’t quite reverse the agency’s four-notch downgrade of the hospital district from May.The May downgrade was the result of the agency’s sector-wide review of tax-supported hospital credits. Standard & Poor’s revised its criteria for all tax-secured hospital district debt to focus more on the credit quality of the hospital’s business operations, beyond the traditional tax-secured analysis. At least a dozen issuers were downgraded.Tuesday’s upgrade reflects Standard & Poor’s increased comfort with the district’s management of its large capital plan, the rating agency said in a news release. The outlook is stable.“We view management’s commitment to scale back its recently increased capital plan as needed and the steps it’s taking to control construction risk as favorable,” said credit analyst Paul Dyson.Moody’s Investors Service gives Palomar Pomerado GOs an underlying Aa3 rating, and Fitch Ratings assigns its AA-minus rating to the credit.The Standard & Poor’s upgrade affects $68 million of outstanding debt, plus $241 million of new bonds that priced Tuesday. The bulk of the bonds come due in 2037 with a 5.125% coupon and a yield of 4.56%.Citi managed the transaction, Kaufman Hall was financial adviser, and the deal carried MBIA Insurance Corp. insurance.
-
Inflows returned to muni mutual funds as investors added $200.3 million for the week ending Wednesday after $1.474 billion of outflows, according to LSEG Lipper.
3h ago -
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly nixed another tax cut bill passed by the Republican-led legislature this year, while pushing a less-costly plan.
5h ago -
It's a big week for the Fortress-backed train company, which refinanced more than $4 billion of debt and broke ground on its West Coast high-speed line.
5h ago -
Photos from The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance conference.
5h ago -
The Mayo Clinic is undertaking a $5 billion expansion that may bring new debt as it reconstructs its core Rochester, Minnesota campus.
6h ago -
"Just like the ATM became an additional transaction channel in the banking industry, I believe distributed ledger technology will provide municipal issuers with a similarly valued tool to sell their bonds," said Rick Coscia, Quincy's Strategic Asset Manager.
9h ago