New York, California Issuers to Price $1B-Plus Deals

Two deals over $1 billion — one in New York and one in California — will vie for investors’ attention this week as the largest being priced, as activity begins to slow down ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

On tap this week is an estimated $11.93 billion in new long-term volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

Last week, a revised $7.40 billion actually priced, according to Thomson ­Reuters, led by a $1.89 billion revenue sale from the California Statewide ­Communities Development Authority, which was senior managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. last Tuesday.

The single maturity in 2013 was priced with bifurcated coupons of 4% and 5% — both priced to yield 4%.

The California Proposition 1A Receivables Program revenue bonds — which carry ratings of Baa1 from Moody’s Investors Service, A from Standard & Poor’s, and BBB from Fitch Ratings — were issued to securitize the state government’s promise to repay money borrowed from local governments to help balance this year’s budget.

This week, the Empire State Development Corp. will step into the spotlight with $1.5 billion of state personal income tax revenue bonds for the New York State Urban Development Corp., including $775.6 million of taxable Build America Bonds in Series 2009E.

Besides the BAB series, the structure will also include $501.5 million of Series 2009 C bonds, as well as $224.1 million of traditional taxable bonds in Series 2009 D. The taxable bonds will mature from 2010 to 2039, while the tax-exempt debt will mature from 2010 to 2019.

The deal, which is rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s and AA-minus by Fitch, is planned for pricing by Goldman tomorrow, after a two-day retail order period that began last Friday for the tax-exempt portion. The firm also planned to take indications of interest today on the traditional taxable bonds and the BABs ahead of the official pricing.

Meanwhile, the California State ­Public Works Board is readying a $1.32 billion revenue sale, which also includes $250 million of BABs.

The tax-exempt bonds, which total $1.09 billion, are scheduled to be priced by Wachovia Bank NA on Thursday, following a retail order period on Wednesday, and are structured to mature from 2010 to 2034.

The $250 million of BABs will be priced by Jefferies & Co., also on Thursday, and will likely mature in a single term bond due in 2034.

The tax-exempt bonds and BABs in Series I will finance various state projects and are rated Baa2 by Moody’s, AA-minus by Standard & Poor’s, and BBB-minus by Fitch. Tax-exempt bonds in Series J, which will finance projects at California State University, are rated A1 by Moody’s, A-minus by Standard & Poor’s, and BBB-minus by Fitch.

Elsewhere in the state, two agencies in Los Angeles will sell nearly $1 billion of combined debt in separate airport revenue and water and sewer deals this week.

The larger of the offerings is a three-pronged sale from the Los Angeles ­Department of Airports that consists of senior revenue bonds, subordinate refunding bonds, and taxable BABs totaling $662 million.

Barclays Capital will price $342.3 million of traditional taxable and BAB debt tomorrow with a structure of serial and term bonds, while Morgan Stanley will price $279.9 million of senior tax-exempt revenue debt on Wednesday, the structure of which was still being hammered out at press time last week.

Samuel Ramirez & Co. will price $39.3 million of Series E tax-exempt subordinate revenue refunding bonds for retail investors tomorrow and Wednesday and for institutions on Thursday. The bonds will mature from 2010 through 2020.

The Los Angeles Department of ­Water and Power will add to the line-up of BAB deals this week when it brings $350 million of water system revenue bonds to market in a negotiated deal expected to be priced by Citi on Thursday.

The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. The maturity structure was still being finalized at press time on Friday.

Other significantly sized deals scheduled to arrive in the primary market this week include a $650 million sale of revenue bonds from American ­Municipal Power Inc., a nonprofit group of electric utility distribution systems owned and operated by municipalities in six states.

The deal is comprised of tax-exempt bonds, traditional taxable bonds, and BABs. It will finance various combined hydroelectric projects. and is expected to be priced by BMO Capital Markets on Wednesday.

The structure is tentatively set to include $26.7 million of Series 2009 A taxable bonds, $501.7 million of Series 2009 B BAB bonds, and $122.4 million Series 2009 C tax-exempt debt. Ratings for the deal were not yet confirmed at press time.

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