Washington priced $823 million of general obligation bonds Wednesday in a competitive auction.
The bonds were sold in three series, split into various-purpose GO bonds, GO bonds supported by fuel tax revenues, and taxable bonds.
Merrill Lynch & Co. beat four other bidders for the $492.5 million various-purpose Series 2009A, with a 4.559% true interest cost bid.
Lehman Brothers bid 4.512% TIC to win the $260 million Series 2009B fuel tax GOs, beating three other bidders.
And Citi won the $70.6 million Series 2009T taxable GOs with a bid of 4.147% TIC, ahead of six other bidders.
Washington Treasurer Michael Murphy is known for his steadfast support of selling bonds on a competitive basis.
“The market was very responsive to our sale with high quality and tightly-spaced bids,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “I am very pleased with the results — an interest rate in the range of 4.5% — 4.6% for 25 years is very good for Washington taxpayers!”
