Supply-hungry investors will face a thin calendar of post-holiday fare as an estimated $2.99 billion is expected to enter the municipal market this week, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.
Volume began to slow last week when underwriters and issuers trimmed the new-issue calendar ahead of the Labor Day weekend. A revised $3.32 billion came to market, according to Thomson Reuters.
The largest deal priced was a $375 million sale of water revenue debt from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Won by JPMorgan with a 4.54% yield in 2039, it was the state's second largest competitive deal of the year and carried ratings of A1 from Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus from Standard & Poor's.
Last Tuesday, when the deal was priced, the generic, triple-A general obligation scale in 2039 was yielding a 4.36%, according to Municipal Market Data.
Sizable offerings of Build America Bonds in the Midwest and Southwest regions as well as a sizable health care offering in the Southeast will lead this week's trading.
The Chicago Board of Education will kick off the activity when it sells a $547 million deal largely comprised of BABs and a small portion of tax-exempt bonds.
The issue, to be priced by Merrill Lynch & Co. on Thursday, consists of $501.9 million of taxable BABs and $45 million of tax-exempts, though underwriters and bankers were still finalizing the structure of both series at press time on Friday.
The tax-exempt bonds will be offered to retail investors on Wednesday ahead of the deal's institutional pricing Thursday.
The issue is rated A1 by Moody's, AA-minus by Standard & Poor's, and A-plus by Fitch Ratings.
In addition, Novant Health Inc., a North Carolina private, nonprofit corporation, plans to refinance a portion of its existing bank revolving line of credit when it sells $300 million of Series 2009A taxable bonds, also in a Merrill-led deal on Thursday.
The hospital debt is expected to be rated A1 by Moody's, A-plus by Standard & Poor's, and AA-minus by Fitch and is structured with term bonds in 2014 and 2019.
Elsewhere in the education sector, two Southwest issuers will add to the activity this week - one with a sizable gilt-edged BAB deal.
The New Mexico Education Assistance Foundation is planning to issue $257 million of revenue sale in a deal being priced by senior manager RBC Capital Markets Inc. on Thursday.
The deal, which has natural triple-A ratings from Moody's and Fitch, is structured as $59 million of tax-exempt bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax maturing out to 2014, and $195 million of tax-exempt, non-AMT bonds with a final maturity of 2020, according to an RBC underwriter.
Meanwhile, the University of Texas Board of Regents is expected to bring $250 million of taxable BABs to market on Thursday in a sale to be led by Barclays Capital. The deal is structured to mature in 2039 and is rated triple-A by all three major rating agencies, according to the preliminary official statement.
Back in Southeast, North Carolina Municipal Power Agency No. 1 is planning to issue $216 million of electric revenue refunding bonds in a multi-structured deal that matures out to 2032 and consists of tax-exempt and taxable debt, according to the POS.
Morgan Stanley will price the deal on Thursday after a retail order period tomorrow, though the exact structure was not available at press time.
There will also be slim pickings in the competitive market this week, where the only somewhat sizable deal is expected to be a $158 million taxable direct-pay BAB general revenue offering from New York's Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority on Thursday. Interest on the debt will be exempt from state and local income taxes, according to the preliminary official statement.
The credit will come to market with negative outlooks from both Moody's and Fitch, which last week lowered their outlooks based on siphoning off of revenue by the agency's parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Moody's affirmed its Aa2 rating on the senior-lien credit, while Fitch rates the general revenue bonds AA.
