NEW YORK - The Bond Buyer on Tuesday announced the finalists for its 11th annual Deal of the Year Awards.
Deals nominated this year ranged from transactions to finance hospitals, housing, toll roads and airports to public private partnerships and bonds sold for alternative energy projects.
The 2012 awards, which considered deals that closed between Oct. 1, 2011 and Sept. 30, 2012, drew some 90 nominations for transactions ranging in size from a few million to billions of dollars.
One finalist was selected from each of the five regions covered by The Bond Buyer. One issue was recognized as our winner in the small issuer category. Small deals are those completed by issuers with annual revenue of $70 million or less. Non-profit and public health care transactions had their own category.
The regional finalists are in the running for the Deal of the Year Award, which will be announced Dec. 5 at a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City.
The entries were evaluated by The Bond Buyer’s editors and bureau chiefs. We looked for innovation, ability to pull complex transactions together under challenging conditions, deals that could or did serve as a model for other financings, as well as the public purpose for which a transaction’s proceeds were used.
The Bond Buyer also selected the winner of its award for a nontraditional public finance transaction, a category that was open to deals that utilized financing techniques other than traditional municipal securities. The award, which was presented for the first time in 2006, reflects the growth of this innovative sector.
The regional finalists are:
Northeast
The Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust’s $371 million of hybrid structure new money and refunding bonds.
Southwest
Midland County, Tex., Fresh Water Supply Dist. No. 1’s $196 million pipeline funding package.
Midwest
The Michigan Finance Authority’s multibillion dollar refinancing of the state’s federal unemployment insurance loan.
Southeast
Broward County, Fla.’s $622 million bond package for Ft. Lauderdale–Hollywood Airport.
Far West
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART)’s $191 million of Measure Q Sales Tax Bonds.
The winner in the small issuer category is Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, Colo.’s $6.65 million of Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds.
The winner in the health care sector is the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York’s two part $750 million financing for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The winning nontraditional financing is Ohio State University’s 50 year concession of its parking system.
This year’s ceremony also will see the presentation of the Freda Johnson Award honoring Trailblazing Women Issuers. This year’s honoree is Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo.
