Catholic Health Initiatives led the municipal market with a multi-faceted issuance of more than $1.1 billion yesterday, highlighting a new-issue dominated session amid an unchanged secondary.
Morgan Stanley priced more than $1.1 billion of Catholic Health Initiatives revenue bonds in multiple series, issued by the Colorado Health Facilities Authority, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, and Montgomery County, Ohio.
Series A consists of $872 million, with debt from all three issuers. A $537.4 million Colorado HFA chunk matures from 2010 through 2021, with term bonds in 2024, 2029, 2034, and 2039. Yields range from 0.97% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 5.25% with a 5% coupon in 2039. These bonds are callable at par in 2014, except bonds maturing from 2015 through 2019, which are not callable, and some bonds maturing in 2020, 2021, 2024, 2029, 2034, and 2039, which are callable at par in 2019. A $265.8 million Montgomery County piece matures from 2010 through 2020, with term bonds in 2024, 2029, 2034, and 2039.
Yields range from 0.97% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 5.25% with a 5% coupon in 2039. These bonds are callable at par in 2014, except bonds maturing in 2024, 2029, 2034, and 2039, which are callable at par in 2019. Also, a $69.2 million Kentucky EDFA component matures from 2010 through 2020, with term bonds in 2024 and 2029. Yields range from 0.97% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 4.95% with a 5% coupon in 2029. These bonds are callable at par in 2014, except bonds maturing in 2024 and 2029, which are callable at par in 2019.
Series B consists of $220 million, with debt from two of the issuers. A $160 million Colorado HFA piece contains three maturities in 2039, yielding 2.80%, 3.21%, and 3.63%, all with 5% coupons. The bonds are not callable. A $60 million Kentucky EDFA component matures in 2039, yielding 3.63% with a 5% coupon. The bonds are not callable.
The deal contains $27.5 million of Series C-2 and $27.5 million of Series C-4 bonds, all from the Colorado HFA. All of the debt matures in 2040, yielding 4.05%, priced at par, and the bonds are not callable.
The credit is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.
Traders said yields in the secondary market were flat.
“It’s just a new-issue day,” a trader in New York said. “No one is really paying attention to the secondary market. All eyes are on the primary.”
Elsewhere in the new-issue market yesterday, Morgan Stanley priced $807.4 million of bonds for the California State Public Works Board, including $250 million of taxable Build America Bonds. The BABs mature in 2034, yielding 8.361% priced at par, or 5.43% after the 35% federal subsidy. The bonds were priced to yield 412.5 basis points higher than the comparable Treasury yield. The $557.4 million tax-exempt component was split into two series. Bonds from the $525.9 million Series G-1 mature from 2010 through 2026, with a term bond in 2030.
Yields range from 1.35% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 5.83% with a 5.75% coupon in 2030. Bonds from the $31.5 million Series H mature from 2010 through 2027, with a term bond in 2029. Yields range from 1.35% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 5.79% with a 5.75% coupon in 2029. The bonds are callable at par in 2019. The issue is rated Baa2 by Moody’s, A-minus by Standard & Poor’s, and BBB-minus by Fitch.
Barclays Capital priced $576.2 million of general obligation bonds for Minnesota in four series. Bonds from the larger $443 million series mature from 2010 through 2029, with yields ranging from 0.78% with a 2% coupon in 2011 to 3.81% with a 5% coupon in 2029. Bonds maturing in 2010 were decided via sealed bid. The bonds are callable at par in 2019. Bonds from a $25 million series mature from 2010 through 2019, with yields ranging from 0.45% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 3.98% with a 4% coupon in 2029. The bonds are callable at par in 2019.
Bonds from a $101 million refunding component — added in after the state initially eliminated a larger refunding component earlier in the week — mature from 2010 through 2022, with yields ranging from 0.45% with a 2% coupon in 2010 to 3.45% with a 5% coupon in 2022. The bonds are callable at par in 2019. The deal also contains a $7 million taxable component, which matures in 2014 and yields 2.90% with a 3.125% coupon. The bonds, which are not callable, were priced to yield 55 basis points over the comparable Treasury yield. The credit is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
The Treasury market had some gains yesterday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note, which opened at 3.45%, finished at 3.42%. The yield on the two-year note finished at 0.95% after opening at 0.98%. The yield on the 30-year bond, which opened at 4.27%, finished at 4.23%.
Yesterday’s Municipal Market Data triple-A scale yielded 3.03% in 10 years and 3.73% in 20 years, matching levels of 3.03% and 3.73%, respectively, Tuesday. Thirty years yielded 4.08% yesterday, also matching Tuesday’s level of 4.08%. As of Tuesday’s close, the triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 89.1% of comparable Treasuries and 30-year munis were 96.7% of comparable Treasuries, according to MMD. Thirty-year tax-exempt triple-A rated general obligation bonds were at 98.8% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
