The municipal market will get another significant dose of Build America Bonds this week when more than $2 billion of the taxable securities are expected to arrive in the primary market as part of an estimated $7.26 billion in total new-issue volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.
Only $649.5 million of the anticipated volume consists of competitive sales, while the remaining $6.613 billion is negotiated.
The estimate is slightly lower than last week's actual revised $8.78 billion slate, according to Thomson Reuters. An $804.9 million hospital revenue and refunding from Ohio on behalf of the Cleveland Clinic Health System Obligated Group anchored last week's primary activity. Rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by Standard & Poor's, the deal's final maturity in 2039 with a 5 1/2% coupon was priced to yield 5.58% - 94 basis points higher in yield than the generic, triple-A general obligation scale in 2039 at the time of the pricing, according to Municipal Market Data.
This week, the University of California will deliver the largest BAB sale of the week when it sells a $1.04 billion of general revenue BABs as part of a $1.37 billion deal. The remainder of the deal consists of $325 million of tax-exempt general revenue bonds. Confirmed at ratings of Aa1 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's, the bonds will be priced by book-runner Barclays Capital on Wednesday after a retail order period tomorrow. The structure of the deal was not available at press time on Friday. Proceeds will finance approximately 70 projects among all 10 of the university's campuses.
In the Southwest, the Texas Department of Transportation will bring to market $1.1 billion of Texas GO mobility fund BABs in a Merrill Lynch & Co.-led deal scheduled for pricing on Wednesday. The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody's, and AA-plus by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. They will be structured with taxable, direct-pay BABs due in 2029 and 2039.
Houston will issue $495 million of public improvement refunding bonds scheduled for pricing tomorrow by senior manager Loop Capital Markets LLC.
The deal tentatively consists of $420 million of Series 2009 A tax-exempt public improvement refunding bonds maturing in two term maturities, and $75 million of direct-pay, public improvement BABs structured as three term maturities, according to the preliminary official statement. However, a source at the firm on Friday said the structure was still being discussed at press time. The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's.
The Dallas Convention Center Hotel Development Corp. is planning to sell $405 million of hotel revenue bonds in a two-pronged Citi-led deal slated for pricing tomorrow that includes tax-exempt bonds and BABs.
The tax-exempt series includes current interest bonds maturing from 2019 to 2025, and capital appreciation bonds maturing in 2018, 2019, and 2026, while the bulk of the deal is concentrated in the BAB series, which consists of one bullet maturity in 2042. There is also a small taxable tail - not designated as BABs - that will mature from 2015 to 2018.
In yet another large-sized BAB offering, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York is planning to issue $750 million of personal income tax revenue BABs tomorrow in a negotiated deal led by Merrill. The bonds have a natural triple-A rating from Moody's and AA-minus from Standard & Poor's - with a structure of serial bonds maturing from 2020 to 2024, as well as term bonds in 2029 and 2039.
Additionally, the Dormitory Authority will also issue a separate, $468 million sale of tax-exempt and taxable general purpose PIT revenue bonds in a two-pronged deal being senior-managed by M.R. Beal & Co. The deal consists of Series 2009 D, which is tax-exempt and structured to mature from 2010 to 2020, and Series 2009 E, which is taxable and matures from 2010 to 2019.
The bonds have a natural triple-A rating from Standard & Poor's and AA-minus from Fitch. Beal will offer Series 2009 D bonds to retail investors today, before pricing the entire issue for institutional investors tomorrow.
Jay Alpert, executive vice president and manager of sales, trading, and underwriting at Beal, said the deal should do well - even after a recent flurry of New York paper selling last week.
"I think there's a lot of cash around and the environment, especially for quality names, is such that municipals have maintained their luster to the retail buyer, considering the level of money market rates," he said.
The deal should attract strong retail interest for maturities between 2010 and 2020 - even though retail traditionally favors bonds due inside of 10 years, he said. "Away from retail, we expect to see good institutional interest," Alpert added.
