Circuit Court Judge Edward Fine on Friday validated the sale of up to $1.8 billion of certificates of participation for an Everglades restoration program called Acceler8, Richard Miller, bond counsel with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, confirmed Monday.
The South Florida Water Management District will use the proceeds to accelerate the completion of eight projects that will provide flood control and restore portions of the South Florida Everglades.
The board of the Water Management District already has started the program with short-term financing, which will be taken out with the first tranche of COPs.
The first sale of up to $500 million of certificates could come to market as early as June, said Ben Watkins, director of the state Division of Bond Finance, who is working with the district on the COP financing.
The certificates will be sold by the South Florida Water Management District Leasing Corp., a new credit in the bond market.
The Acceler8 projects are part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, an $8.4 billion state-federal program. Because the plan is so expensive, state officials devised the Acceler8 program to fast-track specific projects and finance the cost with COPs, which have been described as a unique tool for financing environmental restoration projects.
Public Financial Management Inc. is the district’s financial adviser.
The district already has chosen an 11-member underwriting syndicate for the ambitious Acceler8 COP program. The firms are: Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS Securities LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co, Lehman Brothers, RBC Capital Markets Inc., Raymond James & Associates Inc., Estrada Hinojosa & Co., Loop Capital Markets, and M.R. Beal & Co.
