Higher education bonds

A pair of deals from two New York municipalities and a Texas sale will headline an estimated slate of $4.47 billion in total new-issue supply in the primary market this week - more than double the revised figures from last week - as municipal volume continues to show signs of recovery from the month-long dry spell inflicted by the nation's financial and economic turmoil.

CHICAGO -The Illinois Finance Authority last week advanced borrowing plans totaling nearly $1.5 billion for health care, higher education institutions, and other nonprofits, including a $375 million sale planned by Rush University Medical Center and $500 million for the University of Chicago.

DALLAS — Despite increased sales activity and a rally that sent yields for The Bond Buyer indexes plummeting last week, market volatility continues to put the brakes on deals in Texas. But two large refundings may get to market at some point this week, as well as a handful of bank-qualified issues from utility districts.

DALLAS - The University of Texas Board of Regents plans to issue $401 million of refunding bonds next week for the triple-A rated Permanent University Fund that endows the UT and Texas A&M University systems.

The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority yesterday approved up to $800 million of refinancing debt, including $575 million for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

WASHINGTON - The Brazos Higher Education Service Corp. has extended to the end of the month the deadline for issuers to agree to voluntarily tender, at less than par, roughly $6 billion of outstanding taxable student-loan related securities so that it can restructure them as term floating-rate notes.

Arizona State University officials will ask state lawmakers in the upcoming 2009 session to authorize the creation of a special university stadium district to help finance renovation of the school’s 50-year-old Sun Devil Stadium.

DALLAS - Arizona's professional sports mecca of Glendale will take its chances in the bond market today with a $199 million issue to finance a new spring training facility for Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

CHICAGO - The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority yesterday advanced the borrowing plans of four major health care systems totaling about $800 million in new-money and refunding debt, including $450 million from Froedtert & Community Health Inc.

Nonprofits in New York City that have been stuck with high interest rates on their variable-rate bonds issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency could have the chance to refund that debt.

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of municipal issuers of auction-rate securities are still grappling with failed auctions that have resulted in sky-high interest rates, eight months after broker-dealers stopped supporting auctions and the ARS market collapsed.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York will consider revising its guidelines so that it can sell bonds for a wider range of investment-grade borrowers in a difficult market, executive director Paul Williams Jr. said yesterday.

DALLAS - With tax revenue falling dramatically, the Arizona State Transportation Board will examine its bonding capacity today with a view toward scaling back projects already on the drawing board.

DALLAS - With its economy tumbling, Arizona will shelve a $1 billion construction program for three state universities due to falling lottery revenues that were to provide debt service on bonds for the projects.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York received nine responses last week to a request for information about using taxable and tax-exempt bond financing for settlements with the state's special disability fund, also known as the Second Injury Fund.

DALLAS - The negotiated sale of $180.1 million of lease revenue bonds by the Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities and Community Development Authority for the benefit of the state's community college and technical school system will be delayed due to market turmoil.

WASHINGTON - The Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., one of the largest nonprofit student loan lenders in the country, may be the first to ask its institutional investors to voluntarily tender, at less than par, roughly $6 billion of outstanding taxable student-loan related auction-rate securities so that it can restructure them as term floating-rate notes.

CHICAGO - ThedaCare Inc. and Marquette University - two Wisconsin-based tax-exempt borrowers that sought first-time ratings - joined the list of issuers with deals on hold this week due to the rise in long-term interest rates, although Marquette did move forward with its floating-rate tranches due to its cash needs.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York last week approved new bond financings, refundings, and conversions totaling $1.68 billion, including up to $1.1 billion of personal income tax bonds.

University of Massachusetts officials last week unanimously approved a $2.56 billion, five-year capital plan that includes $1.45 billion of borrowing to support infrastructure improvements throughout the system's five campuses.