DALLAS — North Texas Tollway Authority will close on a $764 million refunding Sept. 24 after achieving savings of 8.6% or $65 million refinancing bonds issued during the recession.
Chief Financial Officer Horatio Porter said the bonds met heavy demand, particularly in the early maturities.
"Some of the later maturities were two to three times oversubscribed while some of the early maturities were oversubscribed eight to 10 times," Porter said. "One of the things that was very interesting was the diversity of investors."
Ratings upgrades and the fact that the issue was the largest in a holiday shortened week helped draw attention to the deal, Porter said.
Moody’s raised NTTA's senior-lien rating to A1 from A2, while S&P lifted its rating to A from A-minus. The upgrades were the first since the 2008 recession. Outlooks are stable.
Porter said NTTA enlarged the deal from the $744 million listed on the preliminary official statement based on responses to investor calls Tuesday and Wednesday.
Net present value savings of 8.6% amounted to $65 million, Porter said.
The deal reduces NTTA's maximum annual debt service to $609 million from the previous $633 million, he said.
The interest rate falls to 4.9% from the previous 5.7%.
"We have worked over the past year to bring down annual debt service through our refundings," Porter said. "I'm pretty pleased with how this deal went."
