Multiple-Tranche Issues From Dallas and San Antonio Lead This Week's Docket

DALLAS — The Alamo city will negotiate the sale of about $416 million of debt this week while Dallas, in a late addition to the calendar, plans to bring about $401 million to the competitive market in three tranches. Two school districts will offer up refunding deals and Texas Christian University will have bonds sold on its behalf. San Antonio will sell $236.5 million of general obligation bonds and $22 million of notes Tuesday before returning Wednesday with $83 million of general airport system revenue bonds and $74 million of passenger facility charge subordinate-lien bonds. Citi will head the underwriting syndicate for the GO sale, while Southwest Securities is lead manager for the note issue, which will fund information technology upgrades and carry seven-year maturities. UBS Securities LLC is lead manager for the negotiated sale of the airport debt. Coastal Securities and Estrada Hinojosa & Co. are co-financial advisers to the nation’s seventh largest city.The $112 million new-money component of the GO debt is the first slice from a $550 million authorization passed in May, the largest bond package ever approved by San Antonio voters.The bonds and notes carry underlying ratings of AA-plus from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.Moody’s Investors Service upgraded its rating on the credit to Aa1 from Aa2, citing “solid growth driven by diverse industries.” Standard & Poor’s analysts said the city’s taxable assessed value for fiscal 2008 rose by a historical high of 16.3% from the year earlier to nearly $66 billion.The airport debt comes to market with ratings of A-plus from Fitch and Standard & Poor’s and A1 from Moody’s.The city was deciding whether to purchase bond isurance or not.Meanwhile, Dallas plans to offer $364.3 million of GO refunding and improvement bonds, $31.2 million of equipment acquisition contractual obligations, and $5.5 million of combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation Wednesday.First Southwest Co. and Estrada Hinojosa are co-financial advisers to the nation’s ninth-largest city. Vinson & Elkins LLP and West & Associates LLP serve as co-bond counsel.Moody’s assigned a Aa1 rating to the sale that will finance various capital improvements throughout the city, according to analysts.The contractual obligations are structured as serials with final maturity in 2012, while the GO debt matures in 2027 and the COs reach final maturity in 2017.Roma Independent School District and Brenham Independent School District plan to offer refunding bonds at some point this week.Roma ISD, a border district in the Rio Grande Valley, expects to issue $9.1 million and Brenham ISD will bring $7.5 million. Brenham is about 90 miles east of Austin.Both sales come to market backed by the state’s triple-A rated Permanent School Fund.First Southwest is financial adviser to the Roma ISD, and SAMCO Capital Markets advises the Brenham district.The Red River Education Finance Corp. plans to competitively sell $40 million of higher education revenue bonds on behalf of Texas Christian University at some point this week.The conduit issuer was established by the town of Windthorst. The town of some 4,400 residents is located in Archer County, about 15 miles south of Wichita Falls. Proceeds from the bonds will fund new buildings and improvements to existing structures on the TCU campus in Fort Worth.First Southwest is the university’s financial adviser.The university’s $233.2 million of outstanding debt carries underlying AA-minus ratings from both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. Moody’s affirmed its Aa3 rating on the university’s debt ahead of the planned issue, and the university expects to receive a rating from Standard & Poor’s.McCall, Parkhurst & Horton LLP serves as bond counsel to TCU, which recently began its 135th academic year.