New slate of deals stack up for coming week; New Jersey Turnpike Authority to sell $335 million

By Cristal Cody and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, May 2 - The coming week is shaping up to be another active one for new issue offerings, even as some issuers have cautioned that market conditions may cause them to postpone their sales.

Still, the view is not universal - some issuers have asserted that they are not concerned about market conditions.

"It really depends on market conditions, but it's tentatively set for Thursday," said one source at the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia when asked about the university's planned $235 million in general revenue pledge bonds set to price this coming week.

The bonds (Aaa/AAA/AAA) will be sold on a negotiated basis with Morgan Stanley as the senior manager and are due July 1, 2040.

Proceeds will be used to finance or refinance capital improvements to the university's educational facilities in Charlottesville, Albemarle County and Wise County in Virginia. The proceeds will be used to construct a parking garage, construct a research building, acquire a parking garage, upgrade and modify the university's heat plant, renovate the university's school of commerce, construct an addition to the university's printing services building and various other capital projects.

New Jersey Turnpike bonds to price

Looking at other upcoming offerings, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is scheduled to price $335 million in series 2008A and 2008B subordinated turnpike revenue bond anticipation notes on Thursday, a preliminary official statement said.

The bonds (MIG1//) will be sold competitively and include $160 million in series 2008A bonds due May 1, 2009, and $175 million in series 2008B bonds due Feb. 1, 2009.

Proceeds from the 2008A bonds will be used to purchase the authority's series 2003D-3, 2003D-4, 2003D-7 and 2003D-8 auction-rate bonds. The proceeds from the series 2008B bonds will be used to make a deposit to the series 2003D bonds purchase/redemption fund.

Elsewhere, the Kansas Department of Transportation intends to price $150.78 million in series 2008A adjustable tender highway revenue bonds on Tuesday, a calendar of upcoming sales said.

The bonds (Aa2//AA) will be sold on a negotiated basis with Wachovia Bank as the lead manager for the series 2008A-1, 2008A-2 and 2008A-5 bonds. Merrill Lynch as the lead manager for the series 2008A-3 and 2008A-4 bonds.

The sale includes $23 million in series 2008A-1 bonds, $38.9 million in series 2008A-2 bonds, $595,000 in series 2008A-3 bonds, $50.275 million in series 2008A-4 bonds and $38.1 million in series 2008A-5 bonds.

The bonds will initially bear interest at the weekly rate, but may be converted to daily.

Proceeds will be used for capital improvements to the department's highway projects.

Also coming up, the Illinois Finance Authority will price $141 million in series 2008D and 2008F pollution control revenue bonds Friday, a calendar of upcoming offerings said.

The bonds (Aaa/VMIG1//AA-) will be sold on a negotiated basis with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey as the lead manager for the 2008D bonds and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the lead manager for the 2008F bonds.

The series 2008D bonds include $50 million in bonds and $91 million in series 2008F bonds.

The bonds will initially bear interest at the weekly rate.

Proceeds from the deal will be used to refund some of the authority's outstanding bonds.

St. Joseph's Healthcare deal set

In bonds that are coming up a little farther ahead, the St. Joseph's Healthcare System of New Jersey plans to price $240 million in series 2008 revenue and refunding bonds on May 14, a source at the issuer confirmed with Prospect News Friday.

The bonds (Ba1//) will be sold on a negotiated basis with Citigroup Global Markets as the senior manager.

The bonds will be sold through the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority.

Proceeds from the deal will be used to refund the authority's series 1996A and series 2003 bonds. The rest will be used for construction of a critical care tower at the St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, 12 new operating room suites and the addition of 56 private critical care beds.

May 13 deals

May 13 seems to be a rather busy day for competitive offerings, led by an $88 million offering of general obligation bonds from Stamford, Conn., according to a preliminary official statement released Friday.

The series 2008A bonds have serial maturities from 2009 through 2028.

Webster Bank, NA, is the city's financial advisor.

Proceeds will be used to finance capital improvement projects authorized through bond resolutions.

Also coming up on May 13 is a $75 million offering of sewer revenue bonds from Pima County, Arizona, according to a preliminary official statement released Friday.

The series 2008 bonds have maturities from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 through 2023.

RBC Capital Markets is the county's financial advisor.

Proceeds will be used to expand the city's sewer facilities.

Brazos County, Texas, also plans to price $55 million limited tax bonds in a competitive sale on May 13, according to a notice of sale.

The series 2008 bonds (AA) have serial maturities from 2010 through 2028.

Public Financial Management is the county's financial advisor.

Proceeds will be used to acquire land and to construct and equip a county jail.

Auction rate bids

In auction-rate news, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority expects to bid for part of the outstanding $125.6 million series 2007 variable rate revenue refunding bonds in a May 8 auction, according to a notice released Friday.

The authority plans to bid for $30 million of the bonds at an interest rate equal to the Sifma Municipal Swap Index as of May 7 plus 140 bps.

The authority said it will bid only on a portion of the seven-day auction bonds to reduce its interest rate expense and it has no current plans to bid on or attempt to own all of the bonds.

The bonds received high bids of 5% and low bids of 3.5% in the auction held Thursday.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. is the broker-dealer.

In other news, the Charleston Area Medical Center intends to restructure $167.55 million of variable-rate revenue and refunding bonds, according to a notice released Friday.

The restructuring includes $93.075 million series 2002A revenue refunding bonds and $74.475 million series 2002B revenue bonds, which priced through the West Virginia Hospital Finance Authority.

The center plans to amend the bond trust indenture to allow the bonds to be converted from the R-Floats mode to a fixed interest rate.

"Due to market conditions, management of CAMC believes the bonds currently bear interest at a rate higher than they would in the new mode," the company said in a statement. "Depending on market conditions, management of CAMC may decide not to convert the bonds to the new mode or may decide to follow another plan to restructure the bonds."

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