Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Puts Off $175 Million Deal

WASHINGTON - Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials postponed the sale of $175 million airport system revenue bonds that was scheduled to come to market today in a negotiated deal after market conditions remained uncertain yesterday.

"We are going to bump it," said Lynn Hampton, chief financial officer of the MWAA. "I can't tell you when we'll come back to market. [Bond] documents usually are good for a couple of weeks ... two to three weeks ... but you've just got to wait for the market to settle down."

The MWAA's planned $175 million of Series 2008B bonds - subject to the alternative minimum tax - was one of the largest deals planned for this week, as issuers have mostly avoided the tumultuous municipal market.

After Monday's news that the House voted down the bailout bill and the primary municipal market remained basically frozen, Hampton said the agency decided it would postpone the deal.

Proceeds of the bonds were to finance the agency's ongoing capital construction program, she said, adding that no projects will be stalled because of the delayed deal.

"Hopefully the market settles down and we can go to market," Hampton said.

The MWAA, which operates Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan National Airport, had its ratings affirmed just ahead of the deal by all three rating agencies, partially due to MWAA officials scaling back the agency's capital construction plan, Hampton said.

The authority is MWAA is rated AA by Fitch Ratings, AA-minus by Standard & Poor's, and Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service.

Hampton said given deteriorating airline credits and the uncertainty in the markets, the MWAA decided mid-summer it would indefinitely defer about $2.2 billion of its capital plan for 2001 to 2016. That brings to $4.84 billion from $7.06 billion the amount of capital that will be spent during that time.

About $3.1 billion has already been spent and the authority expects to issue an additional $377 million of debt in support of the program through 2016, according to the preliminary official statement for the revenue bonds.

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Transportation industry
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