Munis end stronger as Ga., Va. CBA deals sell in primary market

Top-quality municipal bonds ended stronger on Wednesday, according to traders, as deals from Virginia and Georgia issuers hit the market.

Primary market
In the competitive arena, the Virginia College Building Authority sold $592.66 million of educational facilities 21st Century College and equipment program revenue bonds in three separate sales.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $348.81 million of Series 2017C Tranche 2 bonds with a true interest cost of 3.18%. The issue was priced to yield from 2.13% with a 5% coupon in in 2028 to 3.04% with a 4% coupon in 2037.

BAML also won the $143.93 million of Series 2017C Tranche 1 bonds with a TIC of 1.63%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 0.82% in 2018 to 1.99% in 2027.

Raymond James won the $99.92 million of Series 2017D taxable bonds with a TIC of 2.55%. The issue was priced to yield from 1.30% at par in 2018 to 2.90% at par in 2027.

The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Since 2007, the Virginia CBA has sold about $8.5 billion of debt with the most issuance occurring in 2009 when it issued $1.69 billion of bonds. It sold the least in 2008, when it issued $144.1 million of bonds.

BB-072017-MUN

In the negotiated sector, BAML priced and repriced the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority’s $350.4 million of Series 2017A and B federal highway grant anticipation revenue and refunding revenue bonds and Series 2017A and B federal highway grant reimbursement revenue and refunding revenue bonds.

The $51.33 million of Series 2017A anticipation revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 0.94% in 2018 to 2.49% in 2029.

The $231.64 million of Series 2017B anticipation revenue refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 0.94% in 2018 to 1.37% in 2021.

The $12.81 million of Series 2017A reimbursement revenue bonds were priced to yield from 0.94% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 2.49% with a 5% coupon in 2029.

The $54.63 million of Series 2017B reimbursement revenue refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 0.94% in 2018 to 1.37% in 2021.

The anticipation bonds are rated A2 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and A-plus by Fitch while the reimbursement bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and A-plus by Fitch.

Barclays Capital priced Massachusetts' $200 million of consolidated loan of 2014 Series D multi-modal Subseries D-2 general obligation bonds.

The issue was priced at par to yield 1.70% in a 2043 maturity with a mandatory tender date in 2022. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

Jefferies priced and repriced the Alaska Housing Finance Corp.'s $142.96 million of Series 2017A state capital project bonds.

The issue was repriced to yield from 0.97% and 1.02% with 2% coupons in a split 2018 maturity to 3.17% with a 4% coupon in 2032.

The deal is rated AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

Frost Bank priced the United Independent School District, Texas’ $103.64 million of Series 2017 unlimited tax school building bonds.

The issue is priced to yield from 1.24% with a 4% coupon in 2020 to 2.92% with a 5% coupon in 2039. A 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.97% and a split 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.44% and as 5s to yield 3.03%.

The deal, which is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is rated triple-A by Moody’s and Fitch.

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell one basis point to 1.93% from 1.94% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped one basis point to 2.73% from 2.74%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Treasuries were little changed on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was flat from 1.35% on Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.27% from 2.26% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was unchanged from 2.85%.

The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.1% on Wednesday, compared with 85.8% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.9% versus 96.1%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,086 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.16 billion.

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