New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City will share the spotlight in the Empire State, teaming up to bring over $1.1 billion of supply to the new-issue market this week as overall volume is expected to reach $3.9 billion, significantly down from last week's revised $17.7 billion total.
Aside from the pair of New York deals, volume is otherwise relatively light this week, with only $911.4 million in competitive sales and $3.01 billion in negotiated sales, according to Thomson Financial.
Last week, the market saw a revised $2.35 billion in competitive sales, and $15.38 billion in negotiated sales.
This week's largest deal will arrive via the $750 million MTA sale of new money transportation revenue bonds that will be priced by JPMorgan today. The maturity structure was not available at press time on Friday as underwriters and bankers were still hammering out final details. The bonds are rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service, and A by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
New York City, meanwhile, will bring $475 million of its fixed-rate, tax-exempt general obligation debt to market in a negotiated sale led by Loop Capital MarketsLLC.
The deal - the city's first of 2008 - will be priced tomorrow, following a three-day retail order period. Bonds are structured to mature from 2010 to 2028. Moody's rates the outstanding GO bonds Aa3, while Standard & Poor's assigns the bonds a AA rating, and Fitch rates them AA-minus.
The city this week also plans to sell $75 million of fixed-rate taxable bonds in a competitive sale tomorrow.
Elsewhere in the negotiated market, the Fort Worth Independent School District will lead off a trio of school deals in the Lone Star State when it sells $232.1 million of unlimited-tax school building refunding bonds today. The deal, whose proceeds will finance the acquisition of school buses, land for new school construction, and other school construction, will be negotiated by JPMorgan, is backed by Texas' triple-A-rated Permanent School Fund guaranty, and is slated to mature from 2009 to 2028.
Also in Texas, the Round Rock Independent School District tomorrow is expected to sell $126.3 million of unlimited-tax school building bonds in a deal that will be priced by Morgan Stanley. The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's and were upgraded to AA from AA-minus by Standard & Poor's in advance of the sale based on a rapidly expanding economy and tax base, and strong financial performance. The new deal is structured as serial bonds maturing out to 2033.
The Tomball Independent School District, meanwhile, will follow suit in Texas with a $103.7 million GO school building and refunding that is scheduled to be priced tomorrow by Banc of America SecuritiesLLC. Structured to mature from 2009 to 2033, the bonds are PSF-guaranteed.
Volume will also be on the light side in the competitive market this week where the largest will be a $125 million deal from Pima County, Ariz., which will come via a two-pronged sale of GO bonds and state highway bonds tomorrow.
The $100 million GO sale will mature from 2008 to 2022 and will carry ratings of Aa3 from Moody's, AA-minus from Standard & Poor's, and AA from Fitch. A $25 million sale of street and highway bonds will mature from 2009 to 2022 and is rated A1 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch.
The Northeast market will also see a two-pronged deal from Howard County, Md., tomorrow in the competitive market. The larger series consists of $107.5 million of public improvement GO bonds that mature from 2009 to 2028, while the county will also issue $4.09 million of metropolitan district GO bonds that mature from 2009 to 2038.
Both series have natural triple-A ratings from all three rating agencies based on its strong financial management, moderate debt burden, and diverse economy. q
