CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday advanced ordinances authorizing the sale of up to $1.5 billion of mostly refunding revenue bonds for Midway Airport and up to $600 million of new-money and refunding wastewater debt.
The deals will go before the full council for a vote on Wednesday. The wastewater deal includes $300 of new money to fund projects over the next two years. The city would use a fixed-rate structure with a final maturity of 30 years. The measure also authorizes a $150 million commercial paper program.
Ramirez & Co. is the senior manager with Backstrom McCarley Berry & Co. and Rice Financial Products serving as co-senior managers. Acacia Financial Group Inc. and Peralta Garcia Solutions are acting as financial advisers. Schiff Hardin LLP and Hardwick Law Firm are bond counsel. All members of the underwriting team are minority-owned or women-owned businesses and one, Drexel Hamilton LLC, is a certified service-disabled veteran-owned firm.
The Midway deal would include only about $40 million of new-money to cover capital improvement projects over the next two to three years. The refunding piece could range from between $200 million and $1.5 billion for savings and restructuring.
The deal’s size and structure will ultimately depend on the city’s decision as to whether it will seek to resurrect its failed 2009 privatization of Midway under a Federal Aviation Administration’s pilot program.
“Depending on the ultimate decision regarding the FAA’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program, the deal could look substantially different,” city finance officials said.
The ordinance also adds a line of credit option to the existing Midway commercial paper program in place of a letter of credit.
“We added the new product to the authorization to take advantage of the cost savings … we have made similar changes to the city’s other CP programs,” officials said.
JPMorgan is the senior manager with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Cabrera Capital Markets serving as co-senior managers. Some 32.5% of the overall underwriting team goes to minority- and women-owned firms. Acacia is the financial adviser. Mayer Brown LLP and Sanchez & Daniels are serving as co-counsel.
