North Texas Tollway Takes Lead With $1B Revenue Refunding

A $1 billion North Texas Tollway Authority revenue refunding and a handful of hefty note deals will headline the fairly brisk post-holiday activity in the primary market this week as part of an expected $5.96 billion of competitive and negotiated new-issue volume, according to Thomson Reuters. Last week the market saw a revised $3.39 billion in total volume.

The Texas deal is the largest of the week and is slated to be priced by Lehman Brothers on Thursday with a structure that is heavily weighted on the long end of the yield curve with bonds maturing from 2030 to 3038. The Series 2008 F bonds are rated A3 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB-plus by Standard & Poor's. The second-tier revenue refunding bonds, which are secured by tolls and other revenues of the NTTA, will retire a portion of its Series 2007 bond anticipation notes.

A trio of note deals, meanwhile, will be led by a $977.6 million tax and revenue anticipation issue from Los Angeles. The notes, which are expected to be priced tomorrow in the competitive market, are rated MIG-1 by Moody's, SP1-plus by Standard & Poor's, and F1-plus by Fitch Ratings.

Elsewhere in the state, Sacramento County will bring $440 million of Trans to the competitive market tomorrow. The notes are rated MIG-1 by Moody's and SP1-plus by Standard & Poor's.

The short-term activity will continue with a $395 million sale of tax anticipation notes from Harris County, Tex., which are rated F1-plus by Fitch and are expected to be competitively priced tomorrow.

Back in the long-term market, Washington will issue a three-pronged general obligation competitive offering on Wednesday totaling $823 million.

The three series consist of $492.5 million of tax-exempt various purpose GOs maturing from 2014 to 2033, $260 million of tax-exempt motor vehicle fuel tax GOs maturing from 2009 to 2033, and $70.5 million of taxable GOs maturing from 2009 to 2014. The state's full faith and credit pledge is rated Aa1 by Moody's, AA-plus by Standard & Poor's, and AA by Fitch.

Miami-Dade County will issue $450 million of Series 2008 water and sewer revenue refunding bonds when senior manager RBC Capital Markets prices the offering on Thursday. Structured with serial bonds maturing from 2008 to 2022, the bonds are expected to be rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch. The deal will possibly be insured.

One the week's other scheduled offerings, a $400 million revenue issue from the Puerto Rico Housing Authority, was postponed until next week.

In other activity, Kansas City, Mo., is slated to sell a $228.6 million refunding deal on Wednesday with JPMorgan as senior manager. The deal, which includes tax-exempt and taxable bonds, is rated A2 by Moody's and AA-minus by Standard & Poor's, but no details on the structure were available at press time.

A $225 million sale of revenue bonds is also on tap from the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia. Morgan Stanleyis expected to price the deal on Thursday.

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