CHICAGO — The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Illinois will enter the market next Thursday with about $845 million of new-money and refunding revenue bonds as the agency that manages Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center seeks to take advantage of favorable market rates.
Morgan Stanley and Jefferies & Co. will serve as co-book-runners with Loop Capital Markets LLC and Ramirez & Co. as co-senior managers and another six firms rounding out the syndicate as co-managers.
Acacia Financial Group and Public Financial Management Inc. are advising the authority. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is bond counsel and Neal & Leroy LLC is underwriters counsel, with Mayer Brown LLP serving as special counsel to the authority.
The deal includes a mix of current interest and capital appreciation bonds in three series: $98 million of new-money McCormick Place project expansion bonds, $734 million of tax-exempt expansion project refunding bonds, and $12 million of taxable expansion project refunding bonds.
The agency anticipates double-digit present-value savings on the refunding of its 2002 and 1992 bonds, and the new money would provide funding for various projects updating, renovating and expanding existing facilities, including utilities.
Fitch Ratings assigned a AA-minus to the sale and Standard & Poor’s rates the bonds AAA. The bonds are secured by the authority’s taxes on hotel rooms, restaurant meals, Chicago airport taxicab rides, and car rentals.
The issue marks the agency’s first since its $1.2 billion 2010 offering that launched a legislatively approved restructuring of its debt portfolio and operations aimed at providing near-term fiscal relief and long-term financial stability.
The offering statement was published Wednesday and MPEA officials said an investor roadshow would be available late Thursday of this week.
