Maine Municipal Bond Bank brings $103 million; another round of delayed sales dominates market news

By Cristal Cody and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Oct. 7 - Despite a calendar filled with upcoming sales, munis continued to be postponed on Tuesday, with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts leading the pack as it once again delayed the sale of its $750 million in general obligation bonds.

In fact, market uncertainty has led Citigroup Global Markets to place $4.909 billion in negotiated bond sales on to-be-determined status this week.

The offerings are certainly there. Long Island Power Authority of New York has a $750 million sale of revenue bonds coming up, and Hawaii has yet to price $620 million in postponed G.O. bonds. Ohio still plans to price $270 million in G.O. bonds. But the pricing dates for those sales are up in the air.

The Massachusetts sale was expected to take place last week but was bumped to Tuesday. The sale on Tuesday was again postponed and no new pricing date was set.

The sale includes $375 million in series 2008B notes, due April 30, 2009, and $375 million in series 2008C notes, due May 29, 2009.

Proceeds will be used to finance current operating expenses until revenues may be collected.

Henrico County delays sale

In other postponed sales, Henrico County of Virginia delayed its planned competitive sale Tuesday of $95.85 million series 2008A G.O. public improvement bonds, a market source told Prospect News.

"That bond issue has been pulled," the source said.

"We don't have any immediate plans other than just to try to stay in touch with the market."

The bonds have serial maturities from 2009 through 2028.

BB&T Capital Markets is the county's financial adviser.

Proceeds will be used to finance improvement projects for schools, fire stations, parks and roads.

Orange County school sale postponed

Elsewhere, the School Board of Orange County in Florida postponed its planned $85 million sale of series 2008 tax anticipation notes, said Steve Compton, the board's senior administrator of treasury services, Tuesday.

The sale had been slated to price Tuesday, but due to volatile market conditions, the notes (MIG 1) will now price Oct. 15, Compton said.

The notes, due Oct. 1, 2009, will be sold on a competitive basis with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey as the financial adviser.

Proceeds will be used for the payment of expenses ahead of the collection of ad valorem taxes.

Maine bond bank sale

Some pricing activity did take place Tuesday, with the Maine Municipal Bond Bank pricing $103.26 million revenue bonds with a 4.98% true interest cost, according to the issuer.

"We're glad to just be able to do the deal at all and we still ended up at a TIC that is essentially 5%, so that's not bad at all considering," executive director Bob Lenna said.

All but $7 million of the series 2008C bonds were sold through retail orders on Friday and Monday, he said.

The bonds (Aa1/AAA/AAA) priced with 4% to 5.5% coupons to yield 2.38% to 5.53%.

The bonds have serial maturities from 2009 through 2029 with terms due 2038.

Wachovia Bank, NA was the senior manager of the negotiated sale.

Proceeds will be used to purchase $99.39 million of municipal bonds from 18 cities, towns, school districts and other local government units in Maine.

Chandler, Ariz., offering

Looking ahead, Chandler, Ariz., is expected to sell $251.49 million in series 2008 G.O. bonds Oct. 22, a source at the issuer told Prospect News Tuesday.

The bonds (//AAA) will be sold on a competitive basis.

Proceeds will be used for capital improvement projects, including streets, parks, public safety and water and wastewater utility.

Also coming up, the Wayne County Airport Authority of Michigan intends to price $74.795 million revenue refunding bonds for the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, according to a preliminary official statement.

The $37.465 million series 2008E and $37.33 million series 2008F bonds will price initially with weekly interest rates.

The term bonds (Aaa/AAA/AA+) are due in 2016.

JPMorgan will manage the negotiated sale of the series 2008E bonds, and Citigroup Global Markets will manage the series 2008F bonds.

Proceeds will be used to refund a portion of the outstanding series 1996A revenue bonds and 1996B revenue refunding bonds.

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