Transaction Details

IDEA Public Schools

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A Bright Idea: Helping Build the Schools That Build Our Communities

IDEA Public Schools, one of the largest K-12 tuition-free public charter school networks in the U.S., needed to refinance an existing short-term note totaling $195 million. In addition, IDEA needed funding of $95 million for new construction purposes to continue their mission of “College for ALL children”.

Baird’s Charter Schools team was able to meet both needs through a combined financing at an attractive interest rate, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign by the firm’s underwriting desk and sales force.

Baird has served as a trusted financing partner for IDEA since 2007. Because we already had a deep relationship with the organization and understood their needs, we were able to move swiftly and take advantage of a favorable bond market in an otherwise turbulent interest rate environment.

But this deal needed to happen quickly, and making it a reality required a true team effort. Thanks to our banking team’s deep bench and an all-hands-on-deck response from Baird’s fixed income business, we were able to commit our resources to completing it swiftly.

This financing involved remarketing the short-term taxable note on a long-term, tax-exempt basis, which is very rare in our market. A key reason this deal had such strong participation from large institutional investors is because IDEA is one of the most successful charter school networks in the country. The unique nature of their robust academic and financial profile was not lost on investors throughout the marketing campaign.

Brian Colon, Managing Director