Michigan

Detroit's voluntary tender program of its water and sewer revenue bonds may have provide an "optimal solution" for the market but it still represents a default, Municipal Market Advisors said Monday.

Detroit will refinance a chunk of its water and sewer debt as part of a tender offer settlement with bondholders.

Michigan deputy treasurer Wayne Workman, who joined the state last year after a long stint as its financial advisor at Robert W. Baird & Co., has been appointed interim director of the state housing authority.

Fitch Ratings said Detroit's offer to holders of $5.2 billion of water and sewer bonds to tender their debt as part of a bankruptcy settlement does not constitute a distressed debt exchange, an analysis that could bode well for ratings the planned refinancing of the debt.

A web site that allows interested parties to watch Detroit water and sewer muni bond tenders in near-real time is being used for the first time in the municipal bond market.

Detroit has asked the federal judge in charge of its Chapter 9 to consider forcing bond insurer Syncora Guarantee to issue an apology for suggesting that federal mediators have tainted the bankruptcy process.

Detroit Public Schools will move forward with a plan to issue $111 million of state aid notes as well as an updated deficit elimination plan that calls for 10% pay cuts and the closure of up to 24 schools.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee challenged Detroit's settlement with its unlimited-tax general obligation bondholders in court Tuesday, arguing that it means Detroiters will continue to pay taxes on a levy that they did not approve on the original ballot.

As Detroit gears up for a key trial on its bankruptcy exit plan next week, a long-simmering dispute over $1.4 billion of certificates of participation is just starting to heat up.

The Detroit City Council has approved a series of four bond issues that include nearly $1 billion of new limited-tax GO bonds to help finance unsecured creditor settlements as part of its bankruptcy plan.

Detroit Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes pushed back the start date of a trial on the city's confirmation plan by eight days to Aug. 29, noting that the city's plan to reach a settlement with its water and sewer bondholders will likely result in a newly amended confirmation plan.

The Detroit Council unanimously approved emergency manager Kevyn Orr's plan to refinance up to $5.5 billion of water and sewer bonds to help resolve the city's bankruptcy.

Detroit asked the bankruptcy court to approve financing deals that would allow it to refinance up to $5.5 billion of water and sewer debt, providing the first glimpse of settlement details with the bondholders in the court request.

Borrowing by Midwest issuers slid 13.2% for the first half of 2014 but new-money issuance fueled by Chicago and Illinois deals helped boost new-money by 16.8%.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers released a paper Tuesday to help educate bond lawyers and other market participants about general obligation bonds in the wake of the Detroit and Jefferson County, Ala. bankruptcy filings.

Syncora Guarantee Inc. is targeting the federal mediators who crafted the main settlement at the heart of Detroit's bankruptcy exit plan, arguing that they showed illegal and politically motivated bias toward pensioners and saving the city's art.

Detroit said a planned $300 million exit financing that key to its recovery will feature a first lien on income taxes and mature in 11 to 15 years.

The mayor of the city of Warren in Macomb County has filed a lawsuit to overturn a recent ballot proposition that will phase out the personal property tax, which goes to local governments.

Michigan's Attorney General are asking the state supreme court to reconsider a recent ruling that budget officials warn ruling could cost the state up to $1.1 billion and dig a hole in the current-year budget.

Michigan is selling $266 million of state trunk line refunding bonds on Wednesday, hoping to see savings of nearly 8% on the original debt.