BART to offer $388 million green bonds; early order period begins May 9

By Marisa Wong

Morgantown, W.Va., May 5 – Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) said it is preparing its first-ever green bonds certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative.

BART plans to hold an early order period exclusively for individual investors on May 9, according to a notice.

The series 2017 green bonds are general obligation bonds secured by ad valorem property taxes collected in the three-county BART district.

The estimated $388 million of proceeds expected from the sale of these green bonds will be a significant investment in climate-friendly mass transportation for the San Francisco Bay Area, funding continuing work on improving BART’s core infrastructure including track replacement, tunnel repair, station improvements and train control system upgrades. The improvements allow for safer, more reliable and more frequent service per Measure RR for the BART System Renewal Program as well as refinancing prior projects completed per Measure AA for the Earthquake Safety Program.

BART’s series 2017 green bonds will be the first bond issuance to be certified in the western United States by a transit agency under the Climate Bonds Initiative’s Low Carbon Transport Standard, the notice said.

According to the notice, investors can buy BART green bonds through these three steps: (1) setting up a brokerage account; (2) learning about the bonds by downloading a preliminary official statement; and (3) placing an order through the brokerage firm.

The following underwriting firms are participating: Alamo Capital (800 645-5560, 925 956-0127, attn.: Jerry Liang), Stifel (415 364-7803, 888 708-1874, attn.: David Fleming); Backstrom McCarley Berry & Co. LLC (866 878-2622), J.P. Morgan (855 231-8873), Bank of America / Merrill Lynch (800 937-0616), Morgan Stanley (877 937-6739), Blaylock Van, LLC (510 208-6101), Raymond James (800 248-8863), Citigroup (855 644-7252), Siebert Cisneros Shank (800 334-6800), Fidelity (800 544-5372, www.fidelitycapitalmarkets.com) and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (917 343-7900).

BART provides regional rail service in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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