The New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. selected a new slate of underwriters yesterday at its monthly board meeting.
The EFC was the first issuer to put out a request for proposals for underwriting services under guidelines by New York State task force finalized in December that are meant to increase the participation of minority- and women-owned firms on state-backed bond deals.
The EFC selected as senior managers Banc of America Securities LLC, Citi, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Jeffries First Albany Capital Inc., Loop Capital Markets LLC, Morgan Stanley, Ramirez & Co., and Siebert Brandford Shank & Co.
The issuer also chose as co-managers Grigsby & Associates Inc. JPMorgan, Lebenthal & Co., M.R. Beal & Co., Raymond James & Associates Inc., RBC Capital Markets, Rice Financial Products, Roosevelt & Cross Inc., Fidelity Capital Markets, and Wachovia Bank NA. The underwriters were chosen for two year terms with an option to extend for six months.
Meantime, the issuer yesterday postponed a staff presentation on proposed regulatory changes and an amendment to the clean water state revolving fund’s intended use plan that will allow the state to use federal stimulus dollars. The EFC expects to hold a special meeting next week for the presentation.
The state expects to receive $436 million of federal stimulus funds for wastewater projects and $86 million for its drinking water projects. At least half of the funds have to be used for grants or loan forgiveness and 20% for green infrastructure. In a special meeting held last month, the EFC staff and board discussed the possibility of financing projects with a 50-50 split of loans from the revolving fund and grants.
“We are working with our board to determine the most effective and efficient loan grant combination for projects, but we will absolutely use no less than the 50% for additional subsidization as required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” spokeswoman Susan Mayer said in an e-mail.
Prior to the passage of the stimulus package, the EFC had $4.5 billion of requests for water projects. As of Sunday they had received an additional $6.7 billion of project proposals through a Web site set up by Gov. David Paterson’s office, said acting president Matthew Millea.
The EFC also announced yesterday that Joseph Branca had resigned as a board member. Branca is a managing director and team leader at Banc of America Securities.
