Refunding bonds

Municipal issuers in the Southwest sold $93.5 billion of debt in 2020, a year in which the coronavirus upended the way bond business is done.

Bills to expand the use of tax-advantaged bonds that are being reintroduced in the new Congress have favorable odds for being signed into law this year.

Taxable deals and refinancings fueled the 2020 volume spike as issuers adjusted to the coronavirus. The pandemic still looms over 2021.

BATA brings a refunding deal to market next week, buoyed by a financial position that stood up to the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deal was the largest in the authority’s history, with the lowest ever interest rate for one of its sales and netting a record-breaking $112 million in interest cost savings.

The city, struggling amid a pandemic-induced deficit, received a negative outlook from Kroll Bond Rating Agency ahead of the deal.

HJ Sims has used Cinderella bonds, tender offers and forward deliveries to help senior living clients refinance without tax-exempt advance refundings.

The taxable refunding will lower debt service obligations for the airport car rental facility, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, through fiscal 2025.

The $136 million refunding is also backed by the state's appropriation pledge; a political dispute over how to handle unclaimed property was resolved last year.

Issuance dropped 26.7% in January, tax-exempt issuance fell 32.6% while refundings and taxables saw smaller declines. Part of the drops were due to the typical nature of lighter January issuance but also issuer anticipation of potential federal aid to combat the pandemic.

The Foothill-Eastern toll road authority in California made a tender offer ahead of a planned sale, and exchanged the bulk of the debt it wanted to refund.

The Foothill-Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency in California has slated a tender offering exchange for Jan. 21 ahead of a Jan. 25 advance refunding.

The state will sell $182.2 million of highly rated general obligation bonds in three separate offerings.

LACMA, one of Los Angeles' most prominent museums, will refund debt and move forward on construction of a building for its permanent collection.

Public finance groups are optimistic 2021 will be a breakthrough year for federal tax law changes to help spur the use of tax-advantaged bonds.

The state will use debt service savings from the refunding side of the deal for near-term budget relief; the deal includes its first taxable refunding bonds.

Such moves could reduce costs by up to $180 million in present-value savings, Joe Torsella said.

TMI Trust agreed to a settlement that allows bondholders to be paid interest during the Chapter 11 case of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The public finance industry would gain from the reinstatement of tax-exempt advance refunding and other muni-friendly measures under a Democratic sweep of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Tax changes sought by the municipal bond industry are likely to be embedded into infrastructure legislation.