Healthcare industry

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center next week will issue $720 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds, part of the health care provider’s $1.1 billion debt refinancing plan.

A Newark, N.J., bankruptcy court Tuesday approved St. Mary’s Hospital’s reorganization plan, a move that will now require New Jersey to pay $1.5 million per year through 2027 to help meet debt service payments on state contract bonds sold on behalf of the health care provider.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank will enter the market today with about $200 million of bonds, in the first of two borrowings that will finance construction of a new, $754 million safety-net hospital for ­Marion County.

AUSTIN — The $1.3 billion effort to replace Dallas County’s public hospital was able to get off the ground with the use of Build America Bonds, which reduced the debt service burden on county taxpayers.

A plan to build a new hospital advanced last week when the Merrick County Board of Supervisors approved a plan by Litzenberg Memorial County Hospital to build a new $25 million facility and a $9 million long-term care facility.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York could sell bonds to refinance the troubled St. Vincent’s Hospital’s debt, according to a spokesman for Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan.

An oversight committee Tuesday urged the bond-funded California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to improve its transparency and accountability. CIRM was created as part of a 2004 ballot measure that authorized $3 billion in state general obligation bonds to finance stem-cell medical research.

CHICAGO — Cleveland’s single-A rated University Hospitals Health System Inc. plans to open a retail order period Monday for roughly $92 million of refunding bonds in a transaction that will shift a chunk of the system’s variable-rate debt into a fixed-rate mode.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded the Ohio Valley General Hospital to Baa3 from Baa2. The outlook remains negative.

A group of Allegheny County, Pa., residents angered over the planned closing of Braddock Hospital are trying to stop a $1.17 billion University of Pittsburgh Medical Center refunding deal and anticipate filing suit against a state conduit agency if it moves ahead with the bond sale.

CHICAGO — With an upgrade in hand from Moody’s Investors Service, St. Cloud, Minn.-based CentraCare Health System today will price for institutional buyers nearly $200 million of fixed-rate refunding bonds.

This week’s largest financings include deals in the health care, transportation, and environmental sectors that are expected to price as part of an estimated $5.44 billion in volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

DALLAS — Woman’s Hospital Foundation of Baton Rouge, La., will revive a halted replacement project with the proceeds from next week’s negotiated sale of $244 million of hospital revenue bonds and $100 million of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds.

The Virginia Small Business Financing Authority today expects to issue $293 million of new-money and refunding bonds on behalf of Sentara Healthcare, the main health care provider for east Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The expiration two years ago of the law allowing the 116 industrial development agencies in New York to sell bonds on behalf of nonprofits is changing the landscape for borrowers and issuers.

Fitch Ratings revised its outlook to negative and affirmed its BBB-minus rating on Friendship Village of Columbus, Ohio Inc., a continuing care retirement community facility.

CHICAGO — Ohio State University today will begin taking retail orders on a refunding issue that will range in size from $154 million to $274 million in order to eliminate some of the school’s variable-rate debt and achieve savings on its existing fixed-rate bonds.

Standard & Poor’s Tuesday upgraded the long-term and underlying ratings of the Scripps Health hospital system to AA-minus from A-plus.

CHICAGO — Cleveland-based MetroHealth System is expected to enter the market today with $75 million of taxable Build America Bonds and possibly another series of tax-exempt fixed-rate debt to finance capital projects.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded to Baa2 from Baa1 $8.95 million of debt issued on behalf of Memorial Healthcare, located in Shiawessee County between Lansing and Flint.