Higher education bonds

Oversight Board Executive Director Robert Mujica said the only recently released fiscal 2022 ACFR showed revenues and expenditures continue to be imbalanced.

A preliminary forecast showed the school's days cash on hand falling below the Board of Regents' 140 days minimum requirement for a third straight fiscal year.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe take the top spot with a 10.29% market share.

RBC Capital Markets took the top spot for total education issuance, underwriting more than $10 billion in 2023.

Two California issuers take first and third spots on the list. The Regents of the University of California top the list with $2.875 billion in six deals while Los Angeles Unified School District lands at third with $1.189 billion in two deals.

Overall education issuance, including higher ed, K-12 and student loan debt, in 2023 totaled $94.9619 billion, or 3.6% more than 2022's totals.

Like many higher education institutions, the university's financial woes started when enrollment dropped thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its state university systems face a funding freeze for noncompliance with a 2023 state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices.

A $327 million competitive bond deal, including $35 million of taxables, will fund renovations to the stadium and a new football operations building.

Goddard College became the latest small liberal arts school to close, citing long-term enrollment declines.

Muni to UST ratios also continue to rise across the curve, inching closer to more normal averages.

S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the university's debt to negative a month after Moody's Ratings took similar action as the school faces financial difficulties and management changes.

Gyliane Morgan alleges the company retaliated against her in 2020 after she pointed to the firm's oversight failings — including not flagging defaults by borrowers — stemming from its role in a U.S. Department of Education program that helps finance campus projects, according to a wrongful termination lawsuit she filed March 27 in a New York federal court.

With a dearth of taxable muni supply and Build America Bond refundings, the university should see strong demand for this week's $500 million taxable corporate CUSIP bonds.

The bonds refunded of two earlier series of student fee bonds: the taxable Series Z-2 Build America Bonds, and the tax-exempt Series BB-1 bonds.

The state Supreme Court ruled that prevailing wage rules for public projects don't apply to private entities that borrow using tax-exempt conduit bonds.

Pittsburgh-based Robert Morris University was downgraded by Moody's Ratings. The private university is part of a growing list of smaller higher education institutions, particularly in the Northeast, that are facing increasing financial pressures as the pool of potential students shrinks.  

U of I's plans to issue debt ahead of the expiration of a non-binding agreement in May were challenged by a state high court decision to hear an appeal and an Idaho House of Representatives resolution.

Harvard and Princeton coming to market is a "huge sign of confidence," said Clare Pickering, a Barclays strategist.

Large deals were repriced to lower yields while the secondary market was lightly traded, leading to little changed triple-A yield curves and underperformance to Treasury market gains. Despite a growing calendar, the supply demand imbalance remains with much cash on the sidelines.