New York City's sale of $1 billion of tax-exempt refunding general obligation bonds on Tuesday represented an increase of $150 million, or 18%, from the expected $850 million par amount.
Despite the increase in the amount of bonds sold, strong investor demand made it possible to reduce yields in one maturity by one basis point. Ten maturities had yields increase by one to three basis points, well below increases in yields in the general markets. Yields ranged from 0.19% in 2013 to 3.00% in 2033.
The city's GO syndicate sold the refunding bonds through negotiation. Citi was book-running senior manager. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. LLC were co-senior managers.
The city received about $146 million of retail orders for the bonds during the two-day retail order period. During the institutional pricing, the city received roughly $1.2 billion of priority orders.
Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's rate the city's GO bonds AA, while Moody's Investors Service pegs them at Aa2.
