DALLAS - The San Antonio Water System saved more than 15% present value savings, or $46.9 million, on the refunding portion of a $303 million deal that priced Jan. 22.
Gross savings on the deal came to $81.7 million, according to Doug Evanson, chief financial officer for SAWS.
"This was in line with our current expectations but well exceeded our expectations from as recently as late last year," Evanson said "We made a decision to do this transaction as a current refunding, rather than an advance refunding, and that decision provided significant value to SAWS."
Maturities ran from this year to 2045, with much of investor interest on the short end, Evanson said.
"Some of the earlier maturities were three to eight times oversubscribed," he said.
On the long end, maturities of 2045 with 4% coupons earned yields of 3.39%.
Wells Fargo Securities was senior manager and book-runner on the bonds, with managing director Frank Farley as lead banker.
Daniel Hartman, managing director of Public Financial Management and Donald Gonzales, managing director of Estrada Hinojosa & Co. were co-financial advisors.
The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. Outlooks are stable.
About 76% of the issue refunded previously issued bonds, said SAWS treasurer Phyllis Garcia.
Following the sale, the system's outstanding debt will total $1.2 billion in senior lien, $1.4 billion in junior lien, and $138.6 million in commercial paper obligations, according to Moody's.
