Refunding bonds

Detroit-based Wayne State University will return to market with $31.7 million of general revenue refunding bonds, with proceeds refunding outstanding bonds.

When Wisconsin priced $253.755 million of GO refunding bonds on July 23, it was the state's second forward delivery deal in recent months.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority is set up to refund Build America Bonds as part of a $2.11 billion deal slated to land in the market this week.

In the first half of 2024, winding-down federal aid, a resurgence of Build America Bond refundings and election uncertainty have contributed to the surge in issuance, said James Welch, a portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.

The authority is refunding its 2014A bonds to gain debt service savings.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority plans to refund about $400 million and sell $429 million of new money for its capital construction program.

Alaska's efforts to manage its cyclical revenues brought an upgrade from S&P Global Ratings and positive outlook from Moody's Ratings.

The pace of the issuance and the increase of refundings, surging 59.6% in the first quarter of 2024, have also led some firms to up their overall 2024 issuance projections.

The city gave no reason for the cancellation of its redemption plans or bond issuance, but reserved the right to call the 2010B BABs for redemption in the future.

Two mega deals recently priced with make-whole calls for bonds due in 2034 and shorter where the market does not appear "to be penalizing issuers for including an optional make whole call feature in the short maturity tax-exempt bonds," said Pat Luby, head of Municipal Strategy at CreditSights, in a report.