Transaction Details

The County of Jo Daviess

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Baird served as sole underwriter for the County’s $8,660,000 General Obligation Bonds (Alternate Revenue Source), Series 2023. This debt financing generated $8.7 million to finance various improvements to the Jo Daviess County Courthouse, including building an addition and renovating the entire interior of the building. The County is using sales tax revenues to pay debt service on the Bonds without raising taxes on the County taxpayers.

Baird helped guide the County through its first bond issuance sold in the public market. This included assisting the County with its first time through the rating agency process, which the County achieved an inaugural rating of “AA” from S&P.

Baird implemented a 2-day marketing strategy to give investors ample time to review the credit in a fluctuating market environment. Baird received $34,735,000 in orders (4.0x the par amount) with oversubscriptions on 11 of 14 maturities by as much as 8.6x. As a result of strong demand, we were able to lower yields by 3 to 8 basis points (0.03% to 0.08%) on six maturities, which increased the deposit to the project fund by approximately $50,000. Baird underwrote the unsold balances of two maturities totaling $880,000 (10% of the par amount) and took them into its inventory, demonstrating Baird’s willingness to commit capital and lock in market pricing for the benefit of its clients.