Cabinet OKs $683M Issue

The Florida Division of Bond Finance received approval to sell $683 million of refunding bonds from the state’s elected Cabinet last week.

The move to take advantage of historic lower interest rates came as division director Ben Watkins gave a report on the Aug. 11 sale of $109.7 million of lottery revenue refunding bonds.

The bonds were awarded to Morgan Stanley for present-value savings of $15.6 million.

“The interest rate environment is extraordinarily favorable and so we’re moving aggressively to take advantage of the opportunities that the market offers to save the state money,” Watkins said.

The Cabinet approved the sale of $71 million of Department of Management Services facilities pool revenue refunding bonds, $72 million of State University System improvement revenue refunding bonds, and up to $540 million of State Board of Education lottery revenue refunding bonds. The bonds may be sold in one or more series.

The division’s next refunding is $245 million of Series 2010E lottery refunding bonds, which are expected to be sold competitively in the next few weeks. The bonds have been rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service. No other ratings have been released.

Moody’s said the refunding is expected to provide present-value savings of around $31 million.

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