Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, June 9, 2009
State sells $725.3M in General Obligation bonds, saves $100M/year
By News Release @ 5:17 PM :: 4863 Views :: Energy, Environment

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle announced today that the State of Hawai‘i successfully sold $725.3 million of general obligation bonds to fund various State capital projects, including public school facilities, University of Hawai‘i projects and other capital projects statewide.

The $725.3 million bond sale included $500 million of new money proceeds to fund new capital improvement projects and $225.3 million of refunding bonds to refinance outstanding debt.  The refinancing of existing debt resulted in a reduction in debt service of approximately $100 million per year in fiscal years 2010 and 2011.  The overall interest rate for the bonds was 4.12 percent.

Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed the State’s bond ratings of Aa2, AA and AA, respectively.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service cited, as one of the State’s credit strengths, “management’s well-established, proactive budget monitoring practices, including frequent revenue forecast updates from the Council on Revenues, which facilitates prompt identification of potential budget adjustments.”

“The current economic climate posed significant challenges to the State in issuing these bonds.  However, we were able to maintain our high credit ratings and our bonds were well received by the bond market,” Governor Lingle said.

The municipal bond market has stabilized since the market disruption in September 2008.  The State’s sale was well received by a variety of investors, with significant demand from retail investors.  The sale received approximately $200 million in retail orders, many of which were from Hawai‘i residents.

“The new money portion of the sale was increased in size to $500 million from the $400 million originally planned due to strong investor response and demand for the bonds,” said Georgina Kawamura, director of finance.  “The ability to sell the increased amount of bonds provided the State with an excellent opportunity to borrow additional funds at favorable interest rates.”

“Attracting this new capital is integral to our plan to create new jobs in the construction and related industries,” Governor Lingle explained.

The bonds were sold by a financing team with Citigroup Global Markets Inc., serving as senior manager and Merrill Lynch serving as co-manager.

####

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT