CHICAGO — The University of Notre Dame's sale of $400 million of taxable bonds Tuesday may have won the lowest corporate yield for a 30-year maturity in history, according to the finance team.
Notre Dame sold $400 million of triple-A rated, taxable, fixed-rate bonds with 30-year bullet maturities in 2044 and 2045.
The total interest cost was 3.43%, which was 95 basis points above treasury, according to the pricing wire. "We understand that the yield achieved in this financing may be the lowest 30-year yield assigned to a corporate bond," Richard Bellis, senior director of treasury services at the university, said in an email to The Bond Buyer.
"The offering was well received by investors and our investment banking team, led by Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, did a fantastic job of informing us of market opportunities and then soliciting a very strong book of business," he said.
The deal was originally tentatively set to price Jan. 15 but the team opted to price a day earlier to take advantage of the market.
Roughly $120 million of the proceeds will be used to finance an expansion of the Campus Crossroads project, which will add three new buildings to the sides of the Notre Dame Stadium that will include academic, lab and music spaces, an expanded student center and new ballroom.
The project also calls for roughly 2,000 new premium seats and club seats for the stadium.
Another $190 million of the borrowing refunded tax-exempt variable-rate bonds that were hedged with interest-rate swaps. The university terminated the swaps at a cost of about $10 million.
Wells Fargo Securities LLC was the book-running senior manager. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch were also on the team. Chapman and Cutler LLP is bond counsel.
