A Massachusetts general obligation offering and a $1.8 billion New Jersey tax and revenue anticipation note sale will compete for investors' attention as the first two largest deals to be priced as the market bids farewell to summer and gets back to business after the Labor Day hiatus.
A $661 million Massachusetts GO sale is part of an estimated $3.03 billion of total long-term, new-issue volume expected to be priced this week, according to Thomson Reuters, and is one of two Massachusetts deals on the relatively skimpy long-term calendar this week. Last week, the municipal market saw a revised $3.36 billion of total long-term new-issue volume.
The Massachusetts GO sale, which is expected to be priced by Citi on Thursday after a two-day retail order period taking place today and tomorrow, is structured to mature serially from 2009 to 2028 with term maturities in 2033 and 2038. The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings and will be uninsured. About $160 million of the bonds will convert auction-rate debt to fixed rate.
That deal will be joined by a $187.9 million single-family housing revenue bond sale from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency that's expected to be priced tomorrow by Morgan Stanley.The four-pronged deal includes Series 136 - which is subject to the alternative minimum tax - and Series 137, 138, and 139, which are non-AMT.
The four-pronged deal consists of $5.07 million in Series 136, which includes a serial bond maturing in 2010 and a 2023 term bond; $15.9 million in Series 137, which includes a serial bonds maturing from 2009 to 2012; $57.6 million in Series 138, which includes three term bonds in 2028, 2033, and 2039; as well as $109.2 million in Series 139, which includes serial bonds maturing from 2013 from 2018 and term bonds in 2023, 2038, 2033, and 2037.
The ratings for the new Massachusetts housing deal were not yet confirmed on Friday, but the authority's outstanding single-family bonds are currently rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's.
The Massachusetts deals are part of an estimated $2.76 billion of negotiated supply scheduled for this week - only slightly less than last week's revised $2.79 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey note sale - which is rated MIG-1 by Moody's - will take place in the competitive market tomorrow. It will significantly overshadow the estimated supply in the long-term competitive market, which is expected to be $271.9 million this week, compared with a revised $573.4 million last week.
In other activity this week, Puerto Rico will issue between $237 million and $250 million of public improvement GOs in a Morgan Stanley-led deal on Thursday. The structure of the deal will consist of 30-year level debt, likely maturing out to 2038 as a final maturity and the first maturity 2009, according to a Morgan source.
The new deal had not yet been rated as of press time on Friday, but the commonwealth's current public improvement GO debt is rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB-minus by Standard & Poor's.
