Nassau County, in New York’s Long Island, received strong retail demand for the $218 million of short-term notes sold Thursday, with over $1 billion dollars in orders, said deputy county executive of finance Tim Sullivan.
The nine-month revenue anticipation notes priced at 0.80% with a 2% coupon and the 10-month notes priced at 0.85% with a 2% coupon. The notes were assigned short-term ratings of F1 from Fitch Ratings and SP-1-plus from Standard & Poor’s.
Sullivan said the Rans issued Thursday had a spread to the market index that was 25 basis points better than a comparable spread on similar notes issued in December.
In the December sale, the county’s $230 million of nine-month tax anticipation notes yielded 1.1% with a 2.5% coupon. The notes were also rated SP-1-plus by Standard & Poor’s, but had a higher rating from Fitch at F1-plus.
Sullivan said he is pleased with the positive support from investors.
“We think the investment community gets it,” he said, citing the county’s multi-year plan, its budget, which is on track to meet projections, and the county control board’s oversight.
The Rans were issued to meet cash-flow needs and were priced by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The sale followed a $60 million competitive offering from its eastern neighbor on Wednesday.
Suffolk County, which declared a fiscal emergency in March, awarded the winning bid to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, with a true interest cost of 2.9108%. The bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service, and A-plus by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
The public improvement serial bonds were issued to fund various capital projects in the county.
