Illinois received 94 bids from 18 broker-dealers for $50 million of general obligation paper sold competitively last week.
The state typically receives seven to 10 bids during competitive sales.
For the first time Illinois used Grant Street Group’s MuniAuction platform. Each time an underwriter submitted a bid the bids were ranked and underwriters then had the option to either hold or improve their bid. Raymond James / Morgan Keegan won the deal with a true interest cost of 2.491591%.
“This is the first time the state has used Grant Street’s platform and we are confident that the open auction system was the best method given the size and duration of the bonds, and especially given the large number of participating underwriters,” James Prichard, the state’s manager of capital markets, said in a statement issued by Grant Street.
