On January 9, 2024, the Community College District Number 508 (City Colleges of Chicago) (the “District”) sold its $186.565 million Unlimited Tax General Obligation Refunding Bonds (Dedicated Revenues), Series 2024 (the “Bonds”) with Loop Capital Markets serving as Bookrunning Senior Manager. The Bonds had underlying ratings of BBB+/A+ by S&P and Fitch, respectively, and an insured rating of AA by S&P. The Bonds were issued to refund the District’s Unlimited Tax General Obligation Bonds (Dedicated Revenues), Series 2013, pay the premium for the Bond Insurance Policy, and pay costs of issuance of the Bonds. The transaction was insured by Build America Mutual Assurance Company.

Working in conjunction with the District’s finance team, the Firm crafted an investor presentation, which was viewed by 53 investors. Loop Capital Markets provided an institutional holders analysis to the District to identify investor targets. Throughout the pre-marketing process, the Firm provided the District with investor feedback, including investors expected to place orders and the rationale from non-participating accounts. The Firm’s strong distribution capabilities led to a successful institutional order period with $1.195 billion in orders being submitted resulting in 6.4x oversubscription.

Given favorable market conditions, the Firm decided to accelerate pricing by one day. Due to strong investor demand, spreads were tightened between 3 and 11 basis points. Ultimately, the Bonds achieved an All-In TIC of 3.924% and generated $25.534 million in present value savings or 12.362% of the refunded bonds.

On December 12, 2023, Loop Capital Markets served as the Senior Manager for the State of Ohio’s (the “State”) $435.080 million General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2023A (the “Bonds”). The transaction marked the State’s inaugural general obligation bond issuance since receiving across the board Aaa/AAA/AAA ratings from Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, respectively. Over the last several years, Loop’s banking team assisted the State with a comprehensive and targeted credit rating strategy, which focused on the State’s economic strengths.

The State capitalized on the strong momentum of the municipal market and headed into pricing with the bond market having rallied as much as 108 bps across the first 15 years due to economic data supporting that the Fed was likely done with rate hikes. Ultimately, 45 institutional accounts placed orders during the order period, totaling $1.245 billion in priority orders, or 2.9x subscribed for. Given strong investor demand, the Firm tightened spreads up to 10 bps from preliminary pricing to final pricing. After repricing, the transaction finished with $932.140 million priority orders or 2.1x oversubscription. In support of the transaction, the Firm underwrote $31 million bonds at levels unchanged from preliminary pricing spreads. The transaction resulted in gross savings totaling $75.798 million and present value savings totaling $63.296 million, or 12.953% of bonds refunded for the State.

Loop Capital Markets served as Bookrunning Senior Manager and Dealer Manager on City Public Service Board of San Antonio, Texas’ (CPS Energy) $636.580 million Revenue Refunding Bonds, New Series 2023AB, which in addition to the $100.340 million Series 2023 VRDBs was selected as the 2023 Bond Buyer Southwest Deal of the Year. Following the impacts of 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, the City of San Antonio authorized CPS Energy to submit a private letter ruling request to the IRS to permit certain extraordinary — and normally taxable — working capital costs to instead be financed tax-exempt long-term. The IRS concurred with CPS Energy’s analysis, resulting in an exception from certain long-term working capital regulations.

On November 14, 2023, Loop Capital Markets served as Senior Manager on the State of Ohio’s (the “State”) $116.835 million G.O. Highway Capital Improvements Bonds, Series Y (Full Faith and Credit/Highway User Receipts) (the “Bonds”). The Bonds were rated Aa1 (Positive) / AAA (Stable) / AAA (Stable) / AAA (Stable) by Moody’s, S&P, Fitch and Kroll, respectively. Proceeds from the transaction will fund highway capital improvements for the State.  Loop assisted the Treasurer’s office in preparing an investor presentation for institutional investors.

This transaction was the first time the Treasurer of State utilized BVAL as the benchmark for pricing its tax-exempt bonds. The transaction was primarily sponsored by SMAs, Bond Funds, Arb Accounts, and Insurance Companies with 59 institutional accounts participating.  Of particular note, 30 accounts submitted orders in excess of $5 million. Prior to adjustments, the Firm generated more than $1.6 billion in priority orders resulting in 14.0x oversubscription.  Given the strong results of the order period, the Firm was able to tighten spreads by up to 21 bps between pre-pricing and final pricing levels, which resulted in more than $625 million of orders dropping from the order book.  Final spread to BVAL ranged from negative 21 bps to plus 3 bps. These spreads were among the tightest ever achieved for this credit. 

On October 23-24, 2023, the University of Connecticut (“UCONN” or the “University”) sold the $97.14 million Special Obligation Student Fee Revenue Bonds, 2023 Series A (the “Bonds”) with Loop Capital Markets serving as Bookrunning Senior Manager. The Bonds were rated Aa3/A+ by Moody’s and S&P, respectively. The Bonds were issued to finance a portion of the cost of the design, construction, equipping and/or furnishing of a new student  residence hall and dining facility located on the Storrs campus as part of UConn 2000 Infrastructure Improvement Program, a $4.6 billion, three phase, 32-year capital budget program.

Working in conjunction with the University’s finance team, Loop crafted an expansive digital and print advertisement campaign that ran for 9 days – targeting both digital and print ads, including new digital such as radio, using Spotify and geofence. Loop also developed the University’s first-ever investor presentation for its Student Fee Revenue Bond credit, which was viewed by 40 investors. The Firm’s strong distribution capabilities led to a successful retail order period with $200.7 million of retail orders, including $32.3 million of individual retail and $168.4 million of professional retail orders. Of the total retail orders, $38.19 million were allotted, which represented nearly 40% of the total transaction size. The Institutional Order Period generated an additional $413.1 million in total orders, bringing the total orders to $613.7 million or 6.3x. Due to strong investor appetite, the Firm was able to tighten spreads by up to 10 bps throughout the curve since entering the retail order period. The transaction was priced during significant volatility in the fixed income markets given inflationary pressure and geopolitical concerns as the benchmark MMD and BVAL yields increased as much as 26-29 bps in only six trading sessions. The transaction also marked the first time the University utilized both MMD and BVAL as benchmark for pricing and the first time since five years that the University issued bonds for new money needs under this credit.

On October 17, 2023, Loop Capital Markets served as Senior Manager on Ohio Water Development Authority’s ( “OWDA”) $100 million Water Development Revenue Bonds, Fresh Water Series 2023A (the “Bonds”). The Bonds were rated Aaa (Stable) / AAA (Stable) by Moody’s and S&P, respectively. Proceeds from the transaction will fund lending to local government agencies in Ohio for water and sewer projects for its State Revolving Fund program.

In preparation for the marketing process, Loop Capital Markets assisted OWDA in creating a comprehensive electronic investor roadshow for the transaction, which was viewed by 22 institutional investors. In addition, the Firm’s banking team compiled an investor analysis that helped identify underrepresented investors. Throughout the pre-marketing process, the Firm provided OWDA with investor feedback.

Due to market volatility caused by greater than anticipated inflationary indicators and Middle East uncertainty preceding pricing, pricing was accelerated by one day to get ahead of a week of heavy municipal supply of more than $12 billion. The transaction was primarily sponsored by SMAs and Bond Funds with 41 institutional accounts (plus individual retail accounts) participating. Prior to adjustments, the Firm generated more than $760 million in priority orders resulting in 7.6x oversubscription. Given the strong results of the order period, the Firm was able to tighten spreads by up to 10 bps between pre-pricing and final pricing levels. Ultimately, 18 investors were new to the Fresh Water credit and 9 investors were new to OWDA.

On August 9, 2023, Loop Capital Markets served as the Book Running Senior Manager for the City of New York’s $1.02 billion General Obligation Bonds, Fiscal 2024 Series A (New Money) and Fiscal 2012 Series G Subseries G-5 (Reoffering) (the “Bonds”). The transaction was the largest negotiated tax-exempt transaction of the week. The Bonds are rated Aa2/AA/AA/AA+ by Moody’s, S&P, Fitch and Kroll, respectively, with all stable outlooks. The Bonds were issued to finance general City capital expenditures and to convert floating rate debt to fixed rate debt.

In preparation for the pre-marketing process, an investor presentation was created and was ultimately viewed by 58 investors. The Firm conduced a one-day Retail Order Period (“ROP”) where a total of $789.11 million of retail orders were received of which $683.29 million were submitted by Loop Capital Markets. After the ROP, the City entered the market with $742.215 million of bonds offered for the Institutional Order Period (“IOP”). Despite the overall significant New York supply over the last month, Loop Capital’s salesforce produced $5.6 billion of institutional and professional retail orders. Overall, the City received $5.8 billion of retail and institutional orders, and the transaction was oversubscribed by 6.1x.

Due to strong subscription levels, the Firm was able to tighten spreads by up to 12 bps depending on the maturity from ROP to final pricing. The 2032 maturity had an unsold balance of $20 million, which was underwritten by the Firm.

On July 11, 2023, Texas Southern University priced its $80.680 million Revenue Financing System Bonds, Series 2023 with Loop Capital Markets serving as the bookrunner for the financing. The Bonds have a rating of BBB+ by Fitch with an enhanced rating of AA by S&P. They are structured as serial maturities amortizing from May 1, 2024, to May 1, 2042 – 5.000% coupons from 2024-2033, and 5.250% coupons from 2034-2042. Bond proceeds will be used to provide funds to the Board of Regents to construct the Nabrit Science Building, the Catalyst for Urban Transformation, and health and wellness center, to upgrade signage and wayfinding, and to pay costs of issuance of the Bonds.

The market experienced a heavy supply of Texas paper following a muted holiday week with an anticipated Texas supply of over $2 billion. Loop Capital Markets developed a comprehensive marketing plan for the University and TPFA that capitalized off the anticipated supply. The strategy involved contacting more than 45 accounts which included current holders and potential targets of comparable credits.

The transaction was sponsored primarily by Bond Funds (62%) with seven investors submitting orders in excess of $40 million, including one account that submitted orders equivalent to the size of the entire transaction. Long-dated 5.250% coupon maturities garnered the greatest attention among interested investors. Given the bond’s strong performance, the Firm was able to tighten spreads by up to 15 bps.  As a result, $98.130 million of priority orders were dropped, resulting in $660.700 million of priority orders after repricing, or 8.2x subscription.

On May 23, 2023, the City of San Antonio, Texas – Electric and Gas Systems (CPS Energy) priced its $636.580 million Revenue Refunding Bonds, New Series 2023AB with Loop Capital Markets serving as the bookrunner and lead dealer manager for the tender financing. Since 2021, there have been many tender offers in the municipal market, and this transaction represents the largest tender offer in the State of Texas during this timeframe.

The New Series 2023A Bonds were issued to takeout $500 million of commercial paper that initially financed Winter Storm Uri costs, and the New Series 2023B Bonds were issued to purchase the accepted tendered bonds. $823.610 million of CPS Energy’s Taxable New Series 2020 and Taxable New Series 2022 Bonds were offered for tender. Of which, $218.935 million (or 26.580% of the offered amount) of the target bonds were tendered by investors and accepted by CPS Energy. In connection to the tender, CPS Energy achieved $14.238 million PV savings, or 6.503%  – resulting in $28.579 million of cashflow (gross) savings. The tender for the taxable bonds was financed on a tax-exempt basis. The tax-exempt refunding bonds were sold with 4.00% – 5.50% coupons with a call date in 2033, giving CPS Energy greater option value for the potential future refunding of these Bonds since the refinanced taxable bonds had very low coupons.

The transaction came to market during the current U.S. Treasury debt default discussions, where there was significant volatility in the interest rate markets leading up to the projected June 1st deadline. Despite challenging market conditions, the transaction generated $1.191 billion of total priority orders from approximately 50 accounts, reflecting 1.8x overall subscription. At the end of the order period, there was a balance of $108.960 million. An extended order period was then held for the benefit of the syndicate after the verbal award. At the end of the extended order period, the Firm underwrote $29.775 million of the Bonds.

On May 17, 2023, Loop Capital Markets served as Sole Manager for Jefferson Union High School District’s (San Mateo County, CA) $42.5 million General Obligation Bonds, 2020 Election (Measure Z), Series A (“2020A Bonds”) and $22.4 million 2023 General Obligation Refunding Bonds (“2023 Refunding Bonds”) (collectively, the “Bonds”) rated AA- by S&P.

The 2020A Bonds’ proceeds will be applied to finance school facility improvements, authorized by District voters at an election held in November 2020 (Measure Z). The 2023 Refunding Bonds’ proceeds will be applied to refinance on a current basis the District’s General Obligation Bonds, 2012 Election, Series A (issued in 2013). Our bankers worked closely with the District’s Municipal Advisor to tailor each series’ amortizations to achieve the District’s tax rate objectives for the two, separate underlying Bond Authorizations.

To assist in the marketing effort, our banking team researched the existing top reporting holders of the District’s outstanding GO Bonds, as well as other top reporting holders of California K-12 GO Bonds. Loop’s sales force generated over $367 million in orders from 39 unique accounts (5.7x oversubscription). This included 35 new investors (not previously reporting holders of the District’s GO Bonds) and four repeat buyers. Despite large “cuts” (increases) in the MMD Index on the day of pricing, ranging from 4-12 basis points, our desk was able to leverage the size and diversity of the order book to tighten spreads by three to seven basis points across the curve. Ultimately, the new money 2022A Bonds achieved an all-in TIC of 3.669%, and the 2023 Refunding Bonds generated over $1.5 million of gross taxpayer savings ($1.2 million present value, or 4.67% NPV).