Category: Bonds

The Equitable School Revolving Fund LLC., a first-of-its-kind loan pool for charter schools, will hit the market next week with $300 million of A-rated social bonds. The deal, set to price Wednesday, marks the sixth borrowing for the fund, said Equitable Facilities Fund CEO and founder Anand Kesavan. Its most recent deal came last November…

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board and the bondholders opposed to the proposed plan of adjustment remain far apart, according to disclosures on the EMMA web site Tuesday night. U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain earlier this week extended the bankruptcy stay and set a Dec. 11 omnibus hearing to hear the opposing bond parties’…

Labor shortages, aging infrastructure, and affordable housing rank as the primary challenges facing public entities, according to respondents to HilltopSecurities’ 2024 Public Entity Survey. The survey, conducted between May and August, contains responses from more than 1,200 public sector employees and municipal market participants. Of those taking the survey, employees of cities, counties, and school…

Municipals were weaker Tuesday with the largest losses out long while U.S. Treasuries saw narrow gains on the day and equities ended up. Triple-A yields rose by up to five basis points, depending on the scale, while USTs saw yields flat or lower by a basis point or two. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was…

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has named Elena M. Gallo as its new head of government banking, where she will oversee the bank’s commercial banking division that serves more than 3,000 government agencies, public utilities, transportation, and housing authorities across 43 states and the District of Columbia. Gallo will replace Mara Holley, who is retiring after…

Texas Capital is expanding its public finance team with the addition of five industry professionals, the Dallas-based financial services firm announced Friday. The public finance business was launched in May with the hiring of Steve Genyk, a former public finance head at UBS, as a managing director. The move came as the ranks of underwriters…

Investors will have a chance to buy New York City’s third-ever social-labeled general obligation bonds this week. Comptroller Brad Lander said he has high hopes for the taxable $1.5 billion deal despite the awkwardness of Mayor Eric Adams’ recent federal criminal indictment on bribery charges.  “[The credit rating agencies] have reported they believe the city’s…

The end of a brief strike by longshoremen at East and Gulf Coast ports eases immediate credit concerns for the ports, although the lynchpin of the agreement, a 62% salary increase, may nibble away at the bottom lines for some ports over the long term. The strike between the International Longshoremen’s Association representing 45,000 workers…

The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank board of directors approved $26 million in loan financing for the city of Santa Cruz for two wastewater improvement system projects, IBank officials said Thursday. The funding will help the city replace and upgrade decades-old equipment with the aim of preventing costly repairs, protecting pipelines from corrosion, improving…

Taxpayers shoulder a heavy burden for sports stadium subsidies, the Tax Foundation said this week. Reams of research shows that using bonds to finance sports stadiums and arenas do not generate enough revenue to justify the costs, the foundation said in a blog post Thursday. “According to the academic research, the tangible economic benefits job…

Dennis J. Enright, founding principal of NW Financial Group and NW Capital Markets, has died, the New Jersey-based firm announced Thursday. He was 76. Enright’s career spanned a half-century, and he was a pioneer in many now-common financing strategies.  “He was a premier banker, always innovating and searching for client solutions that would save money,”…

U.S. Treasuries sold off Friday after payrolls came in much hotter than expected, leading economists and traders to pare back rate cut expectations. The municipal market could not ignore the moves and triple-A yields rose, but outperformed taxables to a large extent, pushing ratios lower. Equities rallied on the news, pushing the Dow to close…

The next generation of public policymakers and public finance practitioners will mingle with current municipal finance pros at a career forum hosted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Municipal Finance. During the week of Oct. 14, the CMF will hold lunchtime seminars designed to help interested students get the…

Municipals faced some pressure Thursday as U.S. Treasuries saw losses amid geopolitical uncertainty and mixed macroeconomic data ahead of Friday’s payrolls figure while equities were off near the close. The last large new-issues priced in the primary and secondary trading pointed to some weakness, leading to small cuts to triple-A yield curves.  Municipal bond mutual…

Amid an onslaught of outsized new issuance, many deals have been oversubscribed as buyers clamor for paper, particularly in the high-yield space and from specialty states. “It’s been a bit of a fight for deals that come to the primary market,” said Jon Mondillo, global head of Fixed Income at abrdn. Despite issuance up 35.2%…

Municipals were a touch softer Wednesday, but outperformed U.S. Treasury weakness as investors focused on the primary market with several large new-issues pricing to solid demand. Equities were in the black to close the session. Triple-A yield curves were little changed to weaker by one to four basis points, depending on the curve, while Treasuries…

As affordable housing has stepped into the spotlight in the presidential election, including during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris is touting transit-oriented development as a way to increase housing in urban areas. “Some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state…

In her new role as Indianapolis-based managing director at Crews & Associates, Susan Reed aims to bring both creative ideas and a deep well of experience to bear on the challenges facing Indiana issuers. Reed, who has worked as a bond attorney and a municipal advisor and has served in a community and economic development…

Transcription: Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio for the authoritative record. Mike Scarchilli (00:03): Hi everyone and welcome to The Bond Buyer Podcast, your essential resource for insights into everything municipal finance. I’m Mike Scarchilli, Editor-in-Chief of The Bond…

Municipals saw some weakness up front while U.S. Treasuries saw losses across the curve after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the Fed’s rate-cutting schedule was not yet certain as the U.S. economy remains strong. Equities closed in the black. USTs saw the largest losses on the short-end, with yields rising up to 7 basis…