BRADENTON, Fla. -Miami-Dade County today will competitively sell $102.5 million of general obligation bonds to fund its first payment toward a portion of Florida's largest public-private partnership - the $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel project.
All-or-none bids must be submitted online at PFMauction between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Public Financial Management is the county's financial adviser on the deal.
Proceeds of today's sale will provide the initial funding toward Miami-Dade County's overall $402.5 million share of the tunnel project. The city of Miami is contributing $55 million in funding and right of way. The Florida Department of Transportation is heading up the project and funding about half of the total cost through its annual budget.
The deal will be structured as serial bonds maturing between 2009 and 2038, however, bidders can designate term bonds, according to bond documents. Bonds maturing on or prior to July 1, 2018, are not subject to optional redemption, but bonds maturing on or after July 1, 2019, are subject to redemption on any date on or after July 1, 2018.
"The insurance is up to the bidders," said county finance director Rachel Baum. "This is a competitive bid and the bidder may obtain insurance as we have done in previous competitive transactions."
Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's rated the bonds Aa3 and AA-minus, respectively.
Today's offering represents the county's second issuance from the $3 billion "Building Better Communities" GO program that was approved by voters in a countywide referendum in November 2004. The historic vote authorized a comprehensive bond program to provide funding for numerous programs, including parks, museums and libraries, public safety, infrastructure, hospitals, water and sewer, and transportation. The county sold $250 million of the GO authorization in 2005.
Proceeds from today's sale will go toward the Port of Miami tunnel project, which involves boring two 3,900-foot tunnels about 100 feet below the water to create a bypass for freight trucks and buses carrying cruise ship passengers to the port.
Currently, the only access to the port is through downtown Miami, which causes extreme congestion through the city.
In late February, the Floridae DOT announced that a consortium called Miami Access Tunnel LLC would design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the tunnel project through a concession contract that provides it with availability payments for 30 years after the tunnel opens to traffic. Once a concession agreement is signed, MAT will have up to 47 months to build the tunnels.
MAT's main partners are Babcock & Brown Infrastructure GroupUS LLC and Bouygues Travaux PublicsSA, which obtained a private-activity bond allocation up to $900 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for financing of the project.
Miami-Dade County commissioners last week approved an $85 million irrevocable letter of credit from Bank of America NA to fund a contingency reserve as another part of its cost of the tunnel project. Baum said the county may eventually enter into a long-term loan or refinance the line of credit with long-term debt.
The county currently has no other financings for the tunnel project scheduled. A groundbreaking date was not available yesterday.
Holland & KnightLLP and Steve E. BullockPA are co-bond counsel on today's transaction. Edwards Angell Palmer & DodgeLLP and Rasco, Reininger, Perez, Esquenazi & Vigil PL are co-disclosure counsel.
