North Carolina

BRADENTON, Fla. — Appalachian State University in northwestern North Carolina Tuesday will competitively sell $60.14 million of general revenue bonds.

Piper Jaffray & Co. has opened a new office in Charlotte, N.C., and made its first four hires as the investment bank continues its national expansion and strengthens its presence in the municipal trading and sales arena.

Triple-A rated Wake County expects to competitively sell $116.8 million of general obligation public improvement bonds on Tuesday for school projects and open-space purchases.

Rep. Bill Owens, D-Camden, has introduced a bill to limit North Carolina's bonding authority to $138.5 million — or just 11% of what the state issued last year — in fiscal 2012 and 2013.

WASHINGTON — North Carolina expects to competitively sell $500 million of limited-obligation capital improvement bonds Wednesday in its largest deal in almost four years.

Raleigh, N.C., is issuing $114.5 million of triple-A-rated water and sewer revenue bonds Thursday, bolstering city utility resources that have been constrained in recent years by the national recession and a regional drought.

Standard & Poor's revised its outlook to positive from stable on Orange County's AA general obligation credit rating Tuesday based on continuing improvement in the county's financial position.

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority will price $275 million of debt Thursday, including $250 million of Build America Bonds, for the Monroe Connector System in a transaction that illustrates how some issuers are jockeying for pricing position ahead of the BAB program’s scheduled expiration.

North Carolina Tuesday expects to competitively price $494.6 million of general obligation refunding bonds, taking advantage of record-low tax-exempt interest rates to exit interest-rate swaps.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Boosted by the popularity of Build America Bonds and refunding opportunities, issuers in the 11 states that comprise the Southeast region sold $34.5 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2010, up 7.4% over the same period last year.

WASHINGTON — The North Carolina Senate yesterday passed a $451 million bond package for its state university and community college systems as some legislators emphasized the importance of education investment even in the face of a large budget deficit.

WASHINGTON — Wake County, N.C., on Wednesday will issue $34.9 million of qualified school construction bonds — its first such issuance and the state’s largest QSCB deal since the beginning of the program.

WASHINGTON — Wake County, N.C., on Wednesday is expected to competitively price $421.7 million of general obligation refunding bonds, its largest refunding deal on record.

WASHINGTON — Davenport & Co. has hired two financial advisers for a new Charlotte office to bolster its services in the Southeast, the firm announced this week.

WASHINGTON — North Carolina today expects to competitively sell $487.7 million of general obligation bonds, its first new-money GOs in three years.

North Carolina Monday released its 2010 debt affordability report and said that the state has “substantially exhausted” its general fund debt capacity until fiscal 2012.

North Carolina is hoping to capitalize on the recession’s silver lining by financing highway construction with an innovative contract between the state and private contractors — a deal that could accomplish one of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s transportation goals, even though the state treasurer’s office has expressed some reservations.

WASHINGTON — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill next week expects to issue $224 million of tax-exempt debt and Build America Bonds, which will be used to finance or refinance the costs of certain capital projects.