Partners Healthcare, South Miami Health deals price as tax talks eyed

The municipal bond market priced deals from Partners Healthcare, South Miami Health and Empire State Development as investors waited for final details of tax law changes affecting private activity bonds.

Tax-exempt private activity bonds are likely to remain in the final tax bill, sources told The Bond Buyer, though Republicans are still negotiating the PAB provisions. PABs are used for multi- and single family housing, airports, water and sewer facilities and nonprofit hospitals and universities, such as some of the deals that priced on Thursday.

In the negotiated sector Thursday, JPMorgan priced Partners Healthcare System’s $1.2 billion of revenue bonds.

The New Hampshire Health and Education Facilities Authority’s $99.55 million of Series 2017 revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.56% in 2019 to 3.00% in 2037 and 3.05% in 2041.

The $696.93 million of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency’s Series 2017S revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.56% with a 5% coupon in 2019 to 3.00% with a 5% coupon in 2037. A 2041 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.40% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.11%. The $61.94 million of Mass. DFA Series 2017S-2 revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield 2.32% in a 2038 bullet maturity with a mandatory tender date of 2025. The $69.25 million of Mass. DFA Series 2017S-4 revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield 2.17% in a 2038 bullet maturity with a mandatory tender date of 2024.

The $303.62 million of Series 2017 Partners' taxable bonds were priced at par to yield 3.765% in 2048, about 105 basis points above the comparable Treasury security.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

In the competitive arena, Empire State Development sold $1.76 billion of general purpose state personal income tax revenue bonds for the New York State Urban Development Corp.

Morgan Stanley won the $585.35 million of Series 2017D taxable Maturity Group 1 bonds with a true interest cost of 2.8902%. The issue was priced at par to yield from 2.18% in 2020 to 3.15% in 2027.

Jefferies won the $433.49 million of Series 2017D taxable Maturity Group 2 bonds with a TIC of 3.4042%. The issue was priced at par to yield from 3.27% in 2028 to 3.47% in 2032.

JPMorgan Securities won the $302.73 million of Series 2017C tax-exempt Maturity Group 3 bonds with a TIC of 3.6169%. The deal was priced to yield from 2.67% with a 5% coupon in 2038 to 3.06% with a 4% coupon in 2047.

Morgan Stanley won the $225.07 million of Series 2017C tax-exempt Maturity Group 2 bonds with a TIC of 3.2060%. Morgan Stanley also won the $211.92 million of Series 2017C tax-exempt Maturity Group 1 bonds with a TIC of 1.9476%. Pricing information was not available.

The deals are rated AAA by S&P Global Ratings and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings.

Since 2007, the ESDC has issued roughly $19.47 billion of bonds, with the most issuance before this year occurring in 2013 when it sold $3.28 billion of bonds. The corporation did not come to market in 2012.

In another negotiated deal, Jefferies priced the Mass. DFA’s $119.54 million of Series 2017S index floating rate bonds for the Partners Healthcare System.

The $50 million of Series 2017S-5 bonds were priced to yield about 42 basis points over the SIFMA rate in 2044 with a mandatory tender date of 2022. The $69.54 million of Series 2017S-3 bonds were priced to yield about 50 basis points over the SIFMA rate in 2038 with a mandatory tender date of 2023.

The floaters are also rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the city of South Miami Health Facilities Authority’s $809.56 million of Series 2017 hospital refunding revenue bonds for the Baptist Health South Florida Obligated Group.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.36% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.30% with a 5% coupon in 2037. A split 2042 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.74% and as 5s to yield 3.36% and a split 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.79% and as 5s to yield 3.43%.

The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

Loop Capital Markets priced the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s $725.41 million of Series 2017G turnpike revenue bonds.

The issue was priced to yield from 3.12% with a 4% coupon in 2033 to 3.45% with a 3.25% coupon in 2038; a 2043 term bond was priced as 4s to yield 3.37%.

The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and A by Fitch.

BAML priced Philadelphia’s $699.66 million of airport revenue and refunding bonds.

The $139.92 million of Series 2017A bonds not subject to the alternative minimum tax were priced to yield from 1.35% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.30% with a 3.25% coupon in 2036. A term bond in 2042 was priced to yield 2.97% with a 5% coupon and a term bond in 2048 was priced to yield 3.01% with a 5% coupon.

The series is rated A2 by Moody’s and A by S&P with the exception of the 2034 through 2037 maturities totaling $22.87 million , that are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and rated AA by S&P.

The $559.74 million of Series 2017B AMT bonds were priced to yield from 1.45% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.15% with 5% coupon in 2037. A term bond in 2042 was priced to yield 3.17% with a 5% coupon in 2042 and a term bond in 2048 was priced to yield 3.22% with a 5% coupon in 2048. This series is rated A2 by Moody’s and A by S&P with the exception of the 2036 maturity, that are insured by AGM and rated AA by S&P.

Goldman Sachs priced the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority’s $351.99 million of Series 2017I revenue refunding bonds for Princeton University.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.39% with a 5% coupon in 2019 to 2.83% with a 4% coupon in 2040.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

Barclays Capital priced the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s $186.52 million of sales tax revenue refunding green bonds.

The $119.21 million of Series 2017A refunding bonds were priced to yield from 1.59% with a 5% coupon in 2023 to 3.078% with a 3% coupon in 2034.

The $67.31 million of Series 2017B taxable refunding bonds were priced at par to yield from 1.911% in 2018 to 2.621% in 2023.

The deal is rated AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

BOK Financial Securities priced the West Travis County Public Utility Agency, Texas’ $151.73 million of Series 2017 revenue refunding bonds.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.52% with a 2% coupon in 2018 to 3.32% with a 4% coupon in 2037. A 2041 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.39% and a 2045 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.43%.

The deal is insured by Build America Mutual and rated AA by S&P.

Morgan Stanley received the written award on Wisconsin’s $347.03 million of GO refunding bonds of 2017 Series 3.

The issue was priced to yield from 2.10% with a 5% coupon in 2026 to 2.91% with a 4% coupon in 2034.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Goldman Sachs received the official award on the Florida JEA’s $383.84 million of electric system revenue and subordinated revenue bonds.

The $198.095 million of Series Three 2017B revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 2.26% in 2026 to 2.60% in 2030 and to yield from 3.21% with a 4% coupon in 2035 to 3.55% with a 3.375% coupon in 2039.

The $185.75 million of Series 2017B subordinated revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.37% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 1.77% with a 5% coupon in 2020 and as 5s to yield 2.28% in 2025 and 2.37% in 2026 and to yield from 2.81% with a 5% coupon in 2031 to 3.53% with a 3.375% coupon in 2034.

The revenue bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch while the subordinated revenue bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Deal volume has soared this month as some issuers sought to sell PABs and advance refunding bonds before the end of the year, when they might be banned under the tax overhaul. Advance refundings would be banned under both House and Senate versions of the bill.

BB-121517-MUN

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $12.95B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.76 billion to $12.95 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $2.40 billion of competitive sales and $10.55 billion of negotiated deals.

Secondary trading
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was stronger in late trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield fell to 2.284% on Thursday from the final read of 2.287% on Wednesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield decreased to 2.750% from 2.770%.

The MBIS benchmark index, which is comprised of investment-grade municipal securities, is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds finished stronger on Thursday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell two basis points to 1.99% from 2.01% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped four basis points to 2.57% from 2.61%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were mixed on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.81% from 1.79%, the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 2.35% from 2.36% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury decreased to 2.71% from 2.75%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.8% compared with 85.5% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 94.8% versus 95.4%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 51,365 trades on Wednesday on volume of $20.86 billion.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $271.3 million, bringing total net assets to $130.50 billion in the week ended Dec. 11, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

This followed an inflow of $1.06 million to $130.23 billion in the previous week.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the 199 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds increased to 0.53% from 0.51% in the previous week.

The total net assets of the 827 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $34.30 billion to $2.682 trillion in the week ended Dec. 12, after an inflow of $18.54 billion to $2.648 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds rose to 0.76% from 0.74% from the prior week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,026 weekly reporting money funds increased $34.57 billion to $2.813 trillion in the week ended Dec. 12, after inflows of $19.60 billion to $2.778 trillion in the prior week.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds New Jersey Turnpike Authority City of Philadelphia, PA State of Wisconsin
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