The New York State Thruway Authority’s $1.1 billion sale of general revenue bonds met high demand last week, despite being placed on negative outlook by credit rating agencies.
Citi priced the bonds with an all-in true interest cost of 4.19% for an average 30-year term, which is a historic low cost of capital, authority officials said.
The bonds are rated A-plus by Standard & Poor’s and A1 by Moody’s Investors Service.
Authority officials said the sale generated over $4 billion in orders, including orders from hundreds of individual investors and more than 125 institutional accounts.
“The successful results of this bond sale underscore the market’s recognition of the strength of the authority board’s commitment to maintain its financial health, while providing funds necessary to maintain the reliability of its aging and critical highway, bridge and canal infrastructure,” said Thruway Chairman Howard Milstein.
Around $885 million of proceeds will be used to retire short-term debt and $250 million will go toward a construction fund for capital projects, not including the Tappan Zee Bridge.
