A $1 billion note sale from Los Angeles County will kick off the summer note season in the coming week in the primary market, while a $1 billion Massachusetts general obligation offering will highlight more than $5 billion in new volume expected to arrive in the long-term market.
Ipreo LCC and The Bond Buyer estimate that $5.64 billion will test the waters following the selloff that sent the generic benchmark triple-A GO scale in 2043 to 3.22% by Friday morning -- 14 basis points higher than at the end of the prior week, according to Municipal Market Data.
The proposed volume is substantial improvement from the holiday-shortened week when issuers curtailed sales ahead of Memorial Day and sold a revised $2.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
The Los Angeles note deal will be the largest of a trio of California tax and revenue anticipation note sales ushering in summer note season, which typically runs from June to August and allows issuers to meet short-term cash flow needs. Last year, nearly $39 billion of notes came to market over the same period.
Slated for pricing on Tuesday by senior book-runner Goldman, Sachs & Co., the Los Angeles TRANs carry ratings of MIG1 from Moody’s Investors Service, SP1-plus from Standard & Poor’s, and F1-plus by Fitch Ratings.
The larger of the two other TRANs sales is a $250 million offering from Riverside County, Cal., which consists of Series A notes maturing in March 2014, and Series B securities maturing in June 2014. Proceeds from both will fund ongoing operations of the county, as well as the county’s pre-payment to the California Public Employee Retiree System.
The Riverside notes, which will be priced by Citi on Wednesday, are rated SP1-plus by Standard & Poor’s and F1-plus by Fitch. According to a Fitch report, strengths include solid TRANs debt coverage, balanced -- yet vulnerable -- operations, and a diverse economy in recovery, which offset the need for structural balance in its general fund operations and concerns over a $55 million deficit in fiscal year 2014 at the county hospital.
In other note activity, a $200 million sale of TRANs from Kern County, Cal., is also being prepared for sale on Wednesday in the competitive market. No other pricing or rating details were available on the deal at press time.
A $284.53 million offering of wastewater system revenue bonds from the city of Los Angeles will add to the long-term new issuance in California when it is priced on Tuesday by Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co. The senior lien revenue debt will consist of $146.6 million of new money bonds in Series A as well as $137.90 of refunding bonds in Series B. Both will be structured with term bonds.
The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service, and AA-plus by the two other major rating agencies.
In the long-term market, a $1 billion Massachusetts GO sale is being prepped by underwriters at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for pricing on Tuesday, following a two-day retail order period that began last Friday where orders from Massachusetts retail investors had priority.
The deal is reportedly the first to include “green” bonds as part of its financing, in an effort to attract environmentally-conscious investors, according to state officials. The GO bonds will be offered in the $100 million Series D component, which will mature in 2032, and its proceeds will fund a variety of initiatives, such as energy and clean water conservation, and open space and habitat protection projects.
Series C is $375 million of GO consolidated debt that will mature from 2039 to 2043, while Series B consists of $640.26 million of advance refunding bonds maturing in 2013 and from 2016 to 2025. The Massachusetts bonds, which are part of the state’s $10.3 billion fiscal year 2013-2017 capital plan, are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
The Board of Regents of Texas A & M University will round out the week’s larger deals with its $295 million sale of revenue financing system bonds in the competitive market on Tuesday. Series A will include $255.61 million maturing from 2014 to 2022, and Series B includes $39.40 million maturing from 2014 to 2028. The bonds were assigned ratings of Aaa from Moody’s, and AA-plus from both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
