Munis round out week on mostly quiet note; Panhandle-Plains brings $603.13 million of floaters

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Sept. 30 - Municipals closed out the week mostly unchanged, with some weakness seen in spots, market insiders reported.

"It's quiet," said one trader when asked about the day's trading action.

With little going on in primary, the market stagnated. The exceptions were for seven-year bonds and 15-year bonds. Yields on seven-year bonds were seen up by almost 3 basis points, and yields on 15-year bonds were up 3 bps as well.

On the primary front, the Panhandle-Plains Higher Education Authority of Texas priced $603.13 million of series 2011-2 taxable Libor floating-rate student loan revenue bonds, said an official statement.

The offering included $359 million of series 2011-2-A1 bonds, $91 million of series 2011-2-A2 bonds and $153.13 million of series 2011-2-A3 bonds.

The 2011-2-A1 bonds are due July 1, 2021, bear interest at Libor plus 50 bps and priced at 98.817. The 2011-2-A2 bonds are due Oct. 2, 2023, bear interest at Libor plus 85 bps and priced at 96.995. The 2011-2-A3 bonds are due July 1, 2032, bear interest at Libor plus 85 bps and priced at 92.209.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the senior manager for the bonds (/AA+/AAA).

Proceeds will be used to refund existing student loan revenue bonds.

Triborough Bridge deal set

The coming week will feature close to $7 billion in new offerings, said Alan Schankel, managing director with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. Those deals will be led by a $607.355 million offering of general revenue bonds (Aa2/AA-/) from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority of New York. The bonds, Schankel said, were originally set to price during the week of Sept. 26 but were postponed.

The bonds will be sold through Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Rice Financial Products on Tuesday and are due 2012 to 2028.

Proceeds will be used to refund the authority's series 2001A and 2002A general revenue bonds.

Lower Colorado River to price

Also ahead on Tuesday, the Lower Colorado River Authority of Texas is poised to come to market with $595.08 million of series 2011 transmission contract refunding revenue bonds in two tranches.

The bonds (A2/A/A+) will be sold through Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital Inc.

Proceeds will be used to refund outstanding transmission contract revenue notes and other transmission contract revenue debt.

Mississippi to bring two

The State of Mississippi will be in the market in a big way during the coming week with two offerings planned. On Wednesday, the state will offer $353.73 million of series 2011A capital improvement projects general obligation bonds through Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch and $261.3 million of series 2011C taxable G.O. bonds, also through Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.

The 2011A bonds are due 2024 to 2025 and 2029 to 2031 with a term bond due in 2036.

Proceeds from the series 2011A bonds will be used to fund improvements to the Jackson Zoo, the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, the Children's Museum, the Craft Center, the R.H. Harrison Complex, the Bureau of State-Owned Buildings and state and community colleges.

The taxable G.O. bonds are due 2016 to 2028, and proceeds will be used to fund loans to existing industries and local economic development entities to purchase new technologies, land and buildings to improve competitiveness and productivity.

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