Albany Airport, King County to start off heavy pricing week

By Cristal Cody and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Jan. 25 - The coming week is set to be active for municipal bond pricings, according to sources and to calendars.

Action on Monday is led by a $237.27 million offering of limited tax general obligation refunding bonds series 2008 from King County in Washington State and an $83.435 million offering of series 2008A variable-rate refunding airport revenue bonds from Albany County Airport Authority out of New York.

"It is looking pretty busy next week," said one market insider when asked Friday about the slate of upcoming deals. "Things are definitely picking up."

The $237.27 million G.O.s from King County, Washington are set to price Monday and will sell on a negotiated basis with Goldman, Sachs & Co. as the lead manager. Citigroup Global Markets, Lehman Brothers, Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. and Wachovia Bank are the co-managers.

The bonds have a serial structure from 2009 to 2034 and the proceeds will be used to refund the county's 1998 series B general obligation bonds.

The Albany County Airport Authority will bring $83.435 million in series 2008A variable-rate refunding airport revenue bonds on a competitive basis Monday.

The bonds are due in a serial structure from Dec. 15, 2008 through Dec. 15, 2023. Depfa First Albany Securities LLC is the financial advisor.

Proceeds will be used to refund the authority's series 1997 bonds and fund a debt service reserve.

San Francisco Airport bonds

Another airport is also planning to issue bonds this week.

San Francisco Airport will price $261 million in alternative minimum tax and non-alternative minimum tax bonds on Wednesday, according to a negotiated calendar from Citigroup Global Markets.

Citi is the lead manager for the bonds (A1/A).

The bonds are expected to price in a serial structure from 2012 through 2022.

Santa Clara plans offering

Elsewhere, Santa Clara County Financial Authority in California plans to price $124.95 million in lease revenue bonds series 2008A on Wednesday, said a preliminary official statement released Friday.

The bonds (Aa3/AA) will have a serial structure from 2008 through 2022.

Banc of America Securities is the lead manager for the negotiated deal with Citigroup Global Markets and Lehman Brothers as the co-managers.

Proceeds will be used to refund the county's 2007A bonds.

Virginia Housing bonds to price

Even though the Virginia Housing Development Authority planned to remarket $150 million in series 2007 A-AMT Commonwealth Mortgage Bonds in February, the bonds are now scheduled to price in the Jan. 28 week.

Calls to the authority were not returned by press time Friday.

The bonds are now expected to price Wednesday. They had been scheduled to price on Feb. 26, according to official statements.

The authority is remarketing its $150 million Commonwealth Mortgage Bonds first issued in 2007. The offering is being conducted on a competitive basis in a serial structure from 2009 through 2021 with a $27.6 million term bond due 2026 and a $46.2 million term bond due 2035.

Illinois Toll bonds to price in February

Looking further ahead, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority expects to price $766.2 million senior refunding revenue bonds the first week in February, a source reported.

The series 2008 A-1 and series A-2 variable rate senior refunding revenue bonds are expected to price Feb. 7. The bonds have preliminary serial maturities from 2018 to 2031.

Proceeds will be used to refund a portion of the authority's series 2006 A-1 and all of the series 2006 A-2 bonds.

"Everything being refunded will become synthetic fixed rate bonds," said Joelle McGinnis, spokesman for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

The senior manager is Goldman, Sachs & Co., with 11 co-managers, she said.

Moody's Investors Service assigned an Aa3 rating Friday to the bonds.

Indiana University prices bonds

Indiana University priced $180 million consolidated revenue bonds with two term bonds, a source confirmed Friday.

The series 2008A bonds priced Thursday in a deal underwritten by Lehman Brothers with a 5% coupon and yields from 2.22% in 2009 to 4.15% in 2026.

A 2028 term bond offered a 4.5% coupon and yield of 4.67%, and a 2038 term bond had a coupon of 5% and a yield of 4.45%.

The university also plans on Feb. 7 to price $87 million in series S student fee bonds that will be managed by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Proceeds from the student fee bonds will be used to refund outstanding tax-exempt commercial paper and finance the costs of new projects, including a cyber-infrastructure building, a new science building on the Bloomington campus and a new medical education center on the Fort Wayne campus.

Santee Cooper weighs market

The South Carolina Public Service Authority, known as Santee Cooper, plans to price $93.155 million revenue obligation bonds when the market settles more, a source said Friday.

The 2008 refunding series A bonds are being issued by South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility to refinance a portion of the authority's outstanding debt.

Santee Cooper will structure the deal as $44.815 million of serial bonds due 2010, 2011, 2012, 2027 and 2028 and $48.34 million of term bonds due 2032.

The pricing date has not been finalized, Nan Cline, debt administrator for Santee Cooper, said in an interview.

"We're looking at the market daily," she said. "We hope it will be just as soon as we reach our savings target."

Proceeds will be used in March to refund the 1997 refunding series A bonds, ranging from $2.51 million in 2010 to $37.1 million in 2032 and totaling $99.52 million, according to the preliminary official statement.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is the lead manager for the negotiated offering with Citigroup Global Markets; Bear, Stearns & Co.; Merrill Lynch & Co.; and Morgan Stanley as the co-managers.

Ratings issued for Gainesville bonds

Moody's Investors Service assigned a rating of Aa2 and Aa2/VMIG 1 to Gainesville's taxable fixed rate and variable rate utilities system revenue bonds.

The Florida-based municipality plans to sell series 2008A bonds on Feb. 5 and 2008B bonds on Feb. 6, according to a release from Moody's.

The bonds include $105 million taxable series 2008 A (Aa2) utilities system revenue bonds and $90 million series B variable rate utilities system revenue bonds (Aa2/VMIG 1).

Proceeds from series A bonds will be used to fund a portion of the city's Deerhaven 2 unit retrofit, while series B bond proceeds will be used for projects such as a new energy facility and to fund a biosolids program.

Additional information was not available by press time.

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