The University of Connecticut intends to price $220 million of general obligation bonds, including $120 million for capital improvements under the UConn 2000 Infrastructure Improvement Act.
The school will also issue a $100 million refunding, according to manager of treasury services John Sullivan.
A retail order period is scheduled for Friday and Monday, with the institutional sale set for Tuesday. The university is holding the sale in conjunction with state Treasurer Denise Nappier's office.
Wells Fargo is lead manager. Maturities will run through 2034 and 2025 on the new money and refunding, respectively.
Sullivan said these will be debt service commitment bonds of the state.
The rating companies all confirmed their ratings of the bonds, Moody's Investors Service rates them Aa3 while Standard & Poor's assigns AA, both with stable outlooks. Fitch Ratings assigned AA-minus, with a negative outlook.
Fitch also has a negative outlook on the state's GO bonds. It rates UConn's GO bonds one notch below.
"The negative outlook reflects the state's reduced fiscal flexibility at a time of lingering economic and revenue uncertainty," Fitch wrote. "The adopted budget for the current biennium relied on one-time items and anticipated little near-term progress in rebuilding fiscal flexibility. Recent revenue momentum, if it continues, may allow the state to materially improve its reserve position."
Pullman & Comley LLC is bond counsel. The Law Offices of Joseph C. Reid PA is co-bond counsel. McKenna Long & Aldridge is representing the underwriters. Day Pitney LLP is disclosure counsel for the state.
Sullivan said that with the addition of the $1.5 billion of funding available with the Next Generation Connecticut legislation passed last year, UConn is less than halfway through the program.
Since its beginning in 1996, according to Sullivan, this is the 18th year of the UConn 2000 program and the 23rd and 24th GO-debt service commitment bond issue under the program, including refundings.
UConn has about 22,600 undergraduate and 7,900 graduate students,
As of last October, the university has authorized 110 projects totaling $2.3 billion, and issued $2.1 billion in construction-related contracts from all fund sources, with 63% of funds to Connecticut contractors and 19% to set-aside contractors.
In addition, the Bioscience Connecticut initiative has provided a $1 billion investment in genomics and personalized medicine.
"UConn 2000 has provided the funding for some wonderful new buildings on the UConn, regional and [University of Connecticut Health Center] campuses," Sullivan said.
They include Oak Hall, a UConn 2000 building at its main campus in Storrs that opened in 2012 and is home to many of the university's social sciences and humanities departments. The S-shaped building has five wings and is equipped with energy efficiencies.
UConn has regional campuses in Greater Hartford, Avery Point, Stamford, Torrington and Waterbury.
The health center in Farmington, a Hartford suburb, will include the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, with a grand opening for a $1.1 building scheduled for October.
Late in 2011, state lawmakers approved a $291 million bond package to entice Jackson to relocate from Bar Harbor, Maine.
