Deals 12/06/2022

Loop Capital Markets Serves as Senior Manager on the State of Ohio’s $377 Million G.O. Bonds, Series 2022

On December 6, 2022, Loop Capital Markets served as Senior Manager for the State of Ohio’s (the “State”) $377 million General Obligation Bonds, Series 2022 consisting of $176.790 million New Money Bonds (Infrastructure program) and $200.335 million Refunding Bonds (Infrastructure, Conservation, and Common Schools programs). The Bonds were rated Aa1 (Positive) / AA+ (Stable) / AAA (Stable) by Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, respectively.

This transaction was the State’s inaugural G.O. bond issuance since receiving a positive outlook by Moody’s and a “AAA” rating from Fitch – the State’s first AAA G.O. bond rating since 1978. Proceeds of the bonds were used to (i) fund $200 million in new money capital projects for the Infrastructure program, which funds local government road and water and sewer projects, and (ii) current refund $216.48 million of outstanding G.O. bonds for PV debt service savings totaling $17.182 million, or 7.93% of bonds refunded. The State capitalized on the strong momentum of the municipal market and decided to accelerate the pricing by one day.

Loop’s banking team assisted the State with a comprehensive and targeted credit rating strategy, which focused on the State’s strengths (i.e., improving demographics and financials vs. select AAA-rated states). Prior to pricing, Loop developed a list of target investors (top holders of the State’s bonds and top G.O. holders of select highly rated states that are not the top holders of Ohio’s bonds). Throughout the pre-marketing process, the Firm provided the State and its municipal advisor with investor feedback, including investors expected to place orders and any rationale from non-participating accounts.

Constructive feedback from investors throughout pre-marketing led to 54 unique institutional accounts placing orders during the order period, 19 of which were new investors for the State’s G.O. credit. The Firm generated $1.9 billion in priority orders, or 5.0x oversubscription. After repricing, the transaction finished with $1.6 billion priority orders, or 4.4x oversubscribed.