California Reports Strong Demand in $2.28B Bond Sale

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Bill Lockyer, treasurer of California, stands for a photograph after an interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. California voters likely will approve or reject two dueling November tax increase ballot measures together as a pair, Lockyer said. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Bill Lockyer

LOS ANGELES — California completed a $2.28 billion general obligation bond sale on Tuesday, after receiving strong demand from institutional investors.

The deal included $2.094 billion of tax-exempt bonds and $186.5 million of taxable bonds. Around $722 million of the tax-exempt bonds were fore refunding, and generated savings that were greater than estimated, according to a spokesperson for the state treasurer's office.

"The strong demand for California bonds the market showed today reflects continuing confidence in California's improved fiscal picture," Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in a statement. "I am pleased we were able to save the taxpayers $122 million by selling $723 million of refunding bonds."

Retail investors ordered $563 million of the tax-exempt bonds, which amounted to about 44% of the total $1.28 billion available to them and about 27% of the total $2.09 billion in tax-exempt bonds sold, according to the treasurer's office.

Citi and JPMorgan priced the tax-exempt portion and Citi led the taxable deal.

The tax-exempt bonds — rated A1 by Moody's Investors Service and A by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings — priced at 3.19% in the 10-year maturity and 4.89% in the 30-year maturity.

The bonds were sold to fund a wide variety of projects, including schools, community colleges, roads and clean water projects.

Tuesday's deal was the state's second largest of the year, coming in second to a $2.47 billion GO bond sale in April.

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