Rhode Island last week sold $25 million of tax anticipation notes to retail investors, including sales at bank branches to individuals in denominations of $1,000. The retail portion was part of a $350 million deal that was mainly supported by institutional investors. The Tans yielded 2.2%.
Treasurer Frank Caprio announced the strategy of selling the notes through Bank of America NA branches a week earlier and called on residents to invest and help the state out of patriotism, prompting media references likening the Tans to “war bonds.”
“By increasing the awareness of this investment opportunity, Rhode Islanders purchased a large block of the eight-month bonds,” Caprio said in a press release.
A breakdown of how much of the Tans were sold at bank branches was not available last week, but the amount sold to retail was less than the $105 million that reportedly had been set aside for small investors.
Gov. Donald Carcieri had said that state residents would not play a large role in the sale. “We’re not depending upon the citizens of Rhode Island to bail out the state,” he said, according to the Providence Journal.
