Sarasota County, Fla., prices $74 million revenue bonds; Arizona Health Facilities plans $400 million

By Cristal Cody and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Sept. 11 - Pricing action slowed a bit on Thursday, led by an offering from Sarasota County in Florida, even as a new crop of health-care deals sprang up in the marketplace.

"There are still a huge number of health-care issuers out there still reeling from the auction-rate crisis and now there is a glut of them [bonds]," said one sellside source reached Thursday.

"Most of them have already taken care of their auction-rate bonds; we went through a big phase of refunding. Now I think a lot of them are looking for new money."

Moving back to Sarasota's offering, the county sold $73.995 million in infrastructure sales surtax revenue bonds with a 4.15% true interest cost, and the majority sold through retail orders Wednesday, Richard Gleitsman, debt manager for the county, told Prospect News.

The county only sold $10.5 million, or 14%, to institutional investors on Thursday after 51% was sold through retail orders on Wednesday and another 34.7% was sold to underwriters as retail stock to resell to the public, Gleitsman said.

"Usually the more normal circumstances is to sell 25% retail," he said. "Because of that strong retail demand, the underwriters purchased almost a block of it to resell to the public."

The series 2008A bonds (Aa3/AA/AA) priced with 3% to 5% coupons to yield 2.4% in 2010 to 4.57% in 2024.

The bonds were sold in a negotiated sale managed by lead manager Merrill Lynch & Co.

Proceeds will be used to fund capital improvement infrastructure projects.

Arizona Health bonds ahead

Looking back at some of the health-care offerings crowding the market, the Arizona Health Facilities Authority announced plans Thursday to offer $397.085 million in series 2008 revenue bonds for Banner Health on Sept. 18, according to a sellside source.

The bonds (//AA+/F1+) will be sold on a negotiated basis with Merrill Lynch as the senior manager for the series 2008E and 2008H bonds and Morgan Stanley as the lead manager for the series 2008F and 2008G bonds.

The sale includes $124.195 million in series 2008E bonds, $101.89 million in series 2008F bonds, $96 million in series 2008G bonds and $75 million in series 2008H bonds.

The bonds bear interest initially at the weekly rate but may be converted to a daily, short-term, long-term or fixed-rate mode.

Proceeds will be used to refund and redeem the authority's series 2005A revenue bonds.

Indiana Finance Authority deal

Two other health-care sales are expected in Indiana and Pennsylvania, including a $191.655 million sale of revenue refunding bonds from the Indiana Finance Authority for the Parkview Health System.

The series 2008A bonds (A1/A+/) will be sold in a negotiated sale managed by Citigroup Global Markets, according to a preliminary official statement.

Proceeds will be used to refund the outstanding series 2005A and 2005B revenue bonds.

Moving to the Pennsylvania sale, the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority expects to price $88.54 million revenue bonds for the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, according to a preliminary official statement.

The series 2008A bonds have serial maturities from 2009 through 2018.

The bonds (A3//A-) will be sold in a negotiated sale managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Proceeds will be used to help refund the Hospitals and Higher Education Facilities Authority of Philadelphia series 1998A revenue bonds.

Chicago to price $190 million

Elsewhere, Chicago intends to price $190 million second-lien wastewater transmission revenue and revenue refunding bonds, according to a preliminary official statement.

The sale includes $160 million in series 2008A revenue bonds and $30 million in series 2008B revenue refunding bonds.

Cabrera Capital Markets LLC is the senior manager of the negotiated sale. Co-managers are RBC Capital Markets, Grigsby & Associates and Loop Capital Markets LLC.

Proceeds will be used to finance improvements and extensions to the wastewater transmission system and to refund the outstanding series 1998A and 1998B revenue bonds.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.