Wisconsin postpones $135 million bond offering; Santa Clara prices $126.41 million at 2.15% to 4.33%

By Cristal Cody and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Jan. 29 - Wisconsin is holding off on pricing $135 million of clean water fixed-rate bonds (Aa1), the issuer told Prospect News on Tuesday.

The state had planned to price the bonds Tuesday in a negotiated deal with Morgan Stanley, after also delaying pricing the week of Jan. 23 because of market concerns.

"It's a negotiated sale," said Frank Hoadley, capital finance director for the state. "We have not arrived at a negotiated agreement yet."

Wisconsin expects to price 2008 series 1 clean water revenue bonds of about $100 million and the 2008 series 2 clean water revenue refunding bonds of about $35 million.

Series 1 bonds have preliminary serial maturities from 2009 to 2028, while series 2 bonds mature 2016 to 2019.

The series 1 proceeds will be used for improvements to wastewater treatment facilities and to refund outstanding bonds.

Santa Clara prices $126.41 million lease revenue bonds

Santa Clara County Financing Authority in California priced $126.41 million of lease revenue bonds with coupons that ranged from 3% to 5% on Tuesday.

Yields varied from 2.15% in 2009 to 4.33% in 2022 for the series 2008A bonds (Aa3/AA), Paul Knofler, the county's bond and investment analyst, said in an interview.

The bonds priced with a true interest cost of 4.038%, he said.

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

Proceeds will be used to refund the county's series 1997 bonds.

Alaska bonds price

In other news, Alaska Housing Finance Corp. priced $80.88 million in home mortgage revenue bonds, said Michael Strand, finance officer with the corporation, in an interview Tuesday with Prospect News.

The bonds (Aa2/AA/AA+) priced in a serial structure from 2009 to 2018 with term bonds due 2023, 2028, 2033 and 2038, priced at par to yield 2.45% in 2009 through 5.4% in 2038.

"There were some difficulties on some of the longer terms and we may have to raise it 5 points," Strand said earlier in the day, before the terms were finalized.

The proceeds will be used to purchase qualified mortgage loans for first-time homebuyers in Alaska, Strand said.

Citigroup Global Markets was the lead manager for the negotiated deal with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; JPMorgan; Merrill Lynch; Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC; and Wachovia Securities as the co-managers.

Also expected to price Tuesday was $365.38 million in series 2008A general obligation bonds and series 2008B refunding bonds (Aa1) from the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

The terms were not immediately available, according to a source at the district.

The $192.595 million series A bonds priced in a serial structure from 2009 to 2038 and the $172.785 million series B bonds priced in a serial structure from 2009 to 2026.

Proceeds will be used to refund the district's 1998 issue of bonds.

NSB Public Finance, Public Financial Management and Hobbs, Ong and Associates are the financial advisors.

Austin $173.375 million refunding bonds to price Thursday

Moody's Investors Service assigned an Aa1 rating to $173.375 million of Austin, Texas, public improvement refunding bonds.

The series 2008 limited tax general obligation refunding bonds are expected to price Thursday, Moody's said in a statement. The bonds are payable from an ad valorem tax levied on taxable property within the city.

Proceeds from the bonds will be used to refund a portion of outstanding debt for net present value savings.

Additional information was not available before press time.

Dartmouth plans to price $75 million commercial notes

Dartmouth College will price $75 million taxable commercial paper notes on Feb. 6, the issuer reported Tuesday.

The series A short-term notes (P-1) may be issued up to 270 days or less, but the maturity timing will be set on the pricing date, Julie Dolan, associate vice president for fiscal affairs of the New Hampshire college, said in an interview.

Lehman Brothers is the underwriter for the negotiated deal.

Proceeds from the notes will be used for bridge financing of capital projects and general capital needs.

Pasco County's upcoming bonds

Coming up, Pasco County Solid Waste Enterprise in Florida plans to price two bonds totaling $95 million in February.

The bonds are set to price Feb. 28 and include $41 million in solid waste disposal and resource revenue recovery system refunding revenue bonds, series 2008B, 2008C, 2008D-1 and 2008D-2, a source familiar with the bonds confirmed with Prospect News Tuesday.

The county also plans to price $54 million in solid waste disposal and resource revenue recovery system refunding revenue bonds, taxable series 2008A.

Moody's rated the bonds A2 on Tuesday.

A Moody's release from Tuesday said the issuer plans to enter into a synthetic fixed-rate swap agreement with UBS AG for the 2008A bonds, which will be issued to defease the non-callable 1998 alternative minimum tax bonds.

Proceeds will be used to defease all of the solid waste system's existing bonds to provide cash-flow relief, and will also fund a debt service reserve account and provide funds for minor capital improvements.

Care New England's $84.94 million offering

In other upcoming deals, Care New England Rhode Island Health and Education Building Corp. plans to price $84.94 million in bonds in early February, according to a statement released Tuesday afternoon by Moody's.

The building corporation is set to price $46.73 million in series 2008A bonds and $38.21 million in series 2008B bonds on Feb. 1.

Moody's rated the bonds Aaa on Tuesday.

Banc of America Securities is the lead manager for the negotiated offering.

The bonds, according to a Moody's release, will bear interest at the weekly rate and may be converted, in whole by series, to a daily, monthly or fixed-rate mode.

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