A $1.3 billion North Carolina education financing will command the spotlight in the primary market this week as the municipal market is expected to see an estimated $6 billion in competitive and negotiated new-issue volume, compared with last week's revised $4.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Meanwhile, last week the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York pulled a $460.8 million offering revenue bond offering that was to be priced by JPMorgan. The issuer had a preliminary pricing Tuesday, but the deal was then withdrawn due to adverse market conditions.
"The Dormitory Authority, together with the Division of the Budget, concluded that the volatility in the municipal market resulted in conditions that were not conducive to proceeding with the deal," said DASNY spokesman Marc Violette. "We will reassess and bring the deal back to market at a later date."
This week the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority will issue its mammoth offering of variable-rate tax-exempt student loan revenue and refunding bonds on Wednesday in a deal that is being senior managed by RBC Capital Markets.
Rated VMIG-1 by Moody's Investors Service and F1-plus by Fitch Ratings, the deal is expected to have 10 series of bonds - Series 2008 A-1 to A-10 - each backed by a separate letter of credit from a major bank.
The bonds have stated maturities, but are subject to optional and mandatory redemption and optional and mandatory tender for purchase prior to maturity. The Series A-2, A-4, and A-8 have stated maturities of 2035, Series A-1 has a stated maturity of 2036, and Series A-3, A-7, and A-10 have stated maturities of 2034. Series A-5 and A-9 have stated maturities in 2027 and 2038, respectively.
According to the preliminary official statement, the bonds will initially bear interest at a weekly rate, but the interest rate mode may be changed from time to time.
Meanwhile, beyond the education sector, several health care offerings will also have a noticeable presence in the primary market, anchored by a $583.7 million Michigan revenue and refunding deal.
The largest negotiated deal of the week will be issued by the Royal Oak, Mich., Hospital Authority and is expected to be priced on Thursday by Morgan Stanley on behalf of the William Beaumont Hospital, a regional medical center that services the greater Detroit area.
The structure of the deal was not available at press time on Friday. Rated A1 by Moody's, A by Standard & Poor's, and A-plus by Fitch, the proceeds will be used to finance improvements at Beaumont's facilities in Royal Oak, Troy, and Sterling Heights, and to refund a portion of the authority's outstanding bonds.
A handful of smaller health care deals are also being priced this week, including a $275 million sale from the Idaho Health Facilities Authority on behalf of St. Luke's Health System, which is Idaho's largest health care provider.
Scheduled for pricing by Merrill, Lynch & Co. on Wednesday, the deal is rated A2 by Moody's and A by Standard & Poor's. The structure consists of serial bonds maturing from 2009 to 2024, and term bonds maturing in 2028, 2033, 2038, and 2043.
The bonds are backed by revenue payments made by St. Luke's Health System under the loan agreement, and the proceeds from the sale will be used to finance, refinance, or reimburse the system for the costs of the acquisition, construction, renovation, improvement, remodeling and equipping of health care facilities owned and operated by St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, and Mountain States Tumor Institute Inc., which are all affiliates of the system.
Elsewhere in the hospital sector, the Southcentral Pennsylvania General Authority will issue $265.5 million of hospital revenue debt when Citi prices a deal on Thursday on behalf of the WellSpan Health Obligated Group.
Structured to mature from 2009 to 2035, the hospital revenue bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's.
The bonds are secured by payments made by WellSpan Properties Inc., York Hospital, and the Gettysburg Hospital, which are all members of the obligated group. Proceeds will be used to current refund all or a portion of certain outstanding variable-rate and fixed-rate bonds issued for York and Gettysburg hospitals and WellSpan Properties.
In addition, one of the other large health care deals this week is a $191.6 million negotiated sale of revenue refunding bonds on behalf of the Parkview Health System Obligated Group being issued by the Indiana Finance Authority on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, one of the only other sizable deals will hail from Connecticut, which is planning to issue $479.1 million of second-lien special tax obligation refunding bonds in a deal being priced by Goldman, Sachs & Co. on Wednesday, following a two-day retail order period today and tomorrow.
The recent lack of new Connecticut paper and the presence of strong retail demand will be selling points when the deal comes to market, according to Ed Droesch, managing director of underwriting at Goldman.
The Series 2008 A bonds are rated A1 by Moody's, AA by Standard & Poor's, and AA-minus by Fitch. The bonds are special obligations of the state and are payable solely from taxes and other pledged revenues, and are being issued to refund three prior second-lien bond series - 2000 Series 1, 2003 Series 1, and 2003 Series 2 - which were originally issued for transportation infrastructure purposes.
Finally, a three-day retail order period on $700 million of New York City Transitional Finance Authority new-money revenue bonds opens Friday ahead of institutional pricing Sept. 24.
Merrill Lynch will serve as book-running senior manager and Citi and Goldman are co-seniors. The bonds are backed by state educational building aid and are used to finance capital costs for the city education department. Sidley Austin LLP is bond counsel and Public Resources Advisory Group and A.C. Advisory Inc. are co-financial advisers.
Standard & Poor's rates the credit AA-minus. Fitch assigns its A-plus rating and Moody's assigns its A1 rating.
Ted Phillips and Michael Scarchilli contributed to this story.
