The Virginia Public School Authority today expects to price $113.2 million of school financing bonds for seven local government issuers. The deal will be sold as $52.6 million of Series 2010A tax-exempt bonds, and $60.6 million of Series 2010B taxable Build America Bonds.
The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.
The debt is supported by the state intercept program. In case a local government misses a payment to the VPSA, the state comptroller can withhold General Assembly funds owed to the local government. No local bond has ever defaulted to the school authority, according to Moody’s.
The VPSA had $2.9 billion of aggregate principal amount of local bonds for 111 issuers as of April 1.
In June, the agency expects to issue the state’s allocation for qualified school construction bonds. The deal size has not been determined because the state is still collecting project applications from schools, Virginia debt management director Evelyn Whitley said Tuesday.
JPMorgan is the lead underwriter on the VPSA deal with Morgan Keegan & Co. and Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. Sidley Austin LLP is bond counsel and the underwriters are represented by Troutman Sanders LLP. BB&T Capital Markets is financial adviser.
