Refunding bonds

The orchestra received a first-time A rating from S&P Global Ratings ahead of its bond sale next week.

Municipal bond industry groups have been clamoring for advance refundings to be reintroduced as well as an expansion of PABs and direct-pay bonds.

The University of Texas System will bring $386.8 million of refunding bonds to market this week.

Fiona Ma has been pushing the state's bond team to explore refundings and to sell new money bonds while rates remain low.

Gary Community School Corp. in Indiana wants to test its access to the bond market with a $5 million bond refunding.

The audit concluded a year and one day after the sports authority received a letter dated April 4, 2018, informing it that the tax-exempt status of the bonds was being examined.

Midwest Fertilizer Co. announced Monday it has settled with the IRS Office of Appeals an audit that originally disqualified the tax-exempt status of $1.259 billion of refunding bonds that will be used to help finance a fertilizer plant in Posey County, Indiana.

Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., are also drumming up support for the muni market's role in infrastructure finance.

The region's 2018 new money bond sales were up 2% year-over-year, but refundings fell 57%.

Refunding volume in the Midwest was down 57% in 2018, while new money deals rose just 1.8%, leaving the region down more than 28%.