The Maine Municipal Bond Bank is gearing up for its spring sale — $52 million of general obligation bonds — with a retail order period on Friday and Monday and institutional sales following on Tuesday.
UBS Securities LLC is the book-runner for the new-money deal. Citi is co-senior manager and Wachovia Bank NA is co-manager. Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP is bond counsel.
The MMBB will be issuing the debt on behalf of about 16 different local governmental units, including a number of towns, cities, and school districts, according to executive director Robert Lenna. Most of the proceeds will go towards building a middle school and a high school, he said.
The bonds will not be insured, as Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s give the bank AAA ratings, and Moody’s Investors Service rates it Aa1.
The MMBB issues debt twice a year, in the spring and fall. The next bond issuance for the bank will likely be in the first week of October, and it is still determining the amount. While no refundings are on the calendar, Lenna said the bank is always looking at the option, and it is possible it could conduct a refunding before the fall deal.
The agency has always conducted fixed-rate deals, and as a result, “the bank has no exposure of any kind to the variable-rate short-term market,” Lenna said.
