Higher education bonds

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.

The rating agency cited the university's structural budget imbalance and management turnover among factors that drove the outlook revision to negative from stable.