Regents Are Well Received

The Arizona Board of Regents last week priced $104 million of revenue refunding bonds, drawing coupons of 4% and a yield of 3.22% on the short end to 6% with a yield of 6.12% on bonds maturing in 2028.

Financial adviser Kurt Freund of RBC Capital Markets had good news for other issuers who have been waiting for market conditions to improve.

“It was well received,” he said. “We were able to find retail buyers for all the bonds, so it went well.”

Merrill Lynch & Co. led the underwriting team, with Citi, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Wachovia Bank NA as co-managers.

Tempe-based Arizona State University will use the proceeds to current refund Series 2003 bonds. The bonds are secured by ASU’s pledge of gross revenues, including student tuition and fees, and facilities revenues. Lloyds TSB Bank will provide a letter of credit.

The 2008C bonds carried ratings of AA from Standard & Poor’s and Aa3 from Moody’s Investors Service.

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Higher education bonds
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