New York City Leads Primary With $900 Million Sale

A $900 million New York City general obligation offering will thunder into the primary market as part of an estimated $5.62 billion of new long-term volume expected to be priced this week, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

Last week, a revised $7.58 billion of new competitive and negotiated volume was priced, according to Thomson Reuters.

The largest part of the city’s three-pronged deal calls for the pricing of up to $675 million of fixed-rate debt, of which $660 million is tentatively structured as new-money taxable Build America Bonds and $15 million as tax-exempt bonds.

Senior book-runner Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. will price the deal on Thursday, after the firm takes indications of interest on Wednesday.

The BAB portion is expected to include serial bonds from 2011 to 2027, with a final term bond in either 2036 or 2037.

The ratings were expected to be confirmed at Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, AA by Standard & Poor’s, and AA-minus by Fitch Ratings.

“Given the more manageable calendar we are seeing lately, I would expect the deal to get some good attention” as the largest sale of the week, said Sherman Swanson, managing director of underwriting and trading at Siebert.

The city last sold $217 million of BABs on Feb. 25 with a final maturity in 2040 priced to yield 5.62%.

Besides the newest BAB portion, the city also intends to sell $75 million of traditional, fixed-rate, taxable bonds in the competitive market on Thursday, as well as $150 million of tax-exempt variable-rate demand bonds maturing in 2036 that is expected to be priced to yield 0.02% and underwritten by Barclays Capital.

Meanwhile, the transportation needs of two of the country’s largest cities figure significantly this week when these municipalities bring nearly $1 billion of additional revenue debt to market.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning to sell $500 million of dedicated tax fund bonds in a deal that is slated for pricing by JPMorgan on Wednesday and will finance various New York City transit and commuter projects.

The bonds are rated AA by Standard & Poor’s and A-plus by Fitch and are secured by dedicated state taxes. They are structured to include tax-exempt debt in Series 2010 A-1 and BABs in Series 2010 A-2. However, the exact maturity structure had not yet been determined at press time late Friday.

In California, meanwhile, the San Francisco Airport Commission is scheduled to bring $436.7 million of international airport second series revenue refunding bonds to market on Wednesday in a three-pronged, JPMorgan-led deal.

Series 2010 B-3 consists of $119 million of bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax; $216.8 million of Series 2010C non-AMT government purpose revenue refunding bonds; and $100.7 million of Series 2010D non-AMT private-activity revenue refunding bonds.

The airport revenue bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s, A by Standard & Poor’s, and A-plus by Fitch, and the exact maturity structure was being finalized at press time.

Elsewhere in the transportation sector, the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is set to issue $350 million of revenue debt on Wednesday. Rated A1 by Moody’s and A by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, the deal is expected to be priced by JPMorgan and is structured to mature from 2010 to 2042. According to the preliminary official statement, insurance was being weighed prior to the pricing.

Utility and higher education offerings will also make their way to the New York and California markets.

A $360.2 million sale of water and sewer system second general resolution revenue refunding bonds from the New York City Municipal Water Financing Authority is on tap for pricing by M.R. Beal & Co. tomorrow followed by today’s retail order period.

The Series 2010 FF bonds, which are secured by a subordinate lien on gross revenues of the system, are expected to be rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-plus by Standard & Poor’s, and AA by Fitch. They are structured as serials bonds maturing from 2024 to 2031.

The deal should be well received based on its timing and all-tax-exempt structure in a week when two of the other large New York deals are heavily weighted with BABs, said M.R. Beal’s Jay Alpert.

“A lot of deals recently have been BABs and we really haven’t seen many serials, so hopefully that little respite has created some demand,” he said.

“We have seen inflows into mutual funds and there has been a very manageable primary market. We have not been inundated with deals in the last two months, so, if anything, the market can use a bellwether deal. I think that’s healthy for the market.”

In addition, he said the city’s water deal will attract investors to its essential service nature and high liquidity.

Elsewhere in the Northeast, the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority is preparing a $325 million sale of revenue bonds on behalf of Northeastern University.

The deal is to include $251.4 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds maturing serially from 2010 to 2030 with a term bond in 2035, and $74 million of traditional taxable bonds structured to mature as term bonds in 2015, 2020, 2030, and 2035.

Rated A2 by Moody’s, the deal will be priced by Barclays on Thursday, following indications of interest on Wednesday.

Higher education activity continues with the California State University Trustees, which is planning to sell $354.5 million of system wide revenue bonds to finance renovations and improvements at some of CSU’s 23 campuses.

The two-pronged negotiated deal will be officially priced on Wednesday by ­Barclays, after taking indications of ­interest tomorrow.

Barclays is senior book-runner for the Series A tax-exempts, which total $125 million. Morgan Stanley will be a joint book-runner with Siebert and Barclays for the Series B bonds, which total $229.5 million and consists of taxable BABs.

The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and A-plus by Standard & Poor’s. They are backed by gross revenues of the system, such as user fees paid by students.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, will lead the activity in the competitive market this week when it issues a two-pronged GO offering that totals $322.6 million.

Series A consists of $143.5 million of non-callable GOs maturing from 2012 to 2019, while Series B consists of $179.1 million of GO debt that is structured to mature from 2020 to 2030, with bonds maturing from 2021 and subject to a first optional call in 2020 at par, according to the POS.

The bonds can be bid on as either tax-exempt debt or taxable, direct-pay BABs, depending on the winning bidder.

Proceeds from the sale will finance the construction, development, expansion, and improvement of land, water, highways, buildings, equipment, and other public facilities in the state.

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