Transaction Details

County of Edgar

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Baird served as sole underwriter on the County’s $8,000,000 General Obligation Bonds (Sales Tax Alternate Revenue Source), Series 2023. Prior to this transaction, Baird served as placement agent on the County’s $10 million General Obligation Bonds (Sales Tax Alternate Revenue Source), Series 2022. Proceeds from both bond issues were used to finance a new County jail.

Baird assisted the County in developing a rating strategy to secure a favorable inaugural credit rating. This included drafting a rating presentation book that address potential credit concerns and highlighted financial improvements and hosting calls with County officials to prepare for the rating call. The County secured an “A” rating with a stable outlook.

The week leading up to pricing, Baird faced a volatile market due to (i) geopolitical uncertainty from the Israel-Hamas war, (ii) PPI and CPI data that came in higher than expected, and (iii) Federal Reserve minutes released from the September meeting that suggest rates will remain higher for longer. The day of pricing, Baird faced market headwinds due to the release of stronger than anticipated Retail Sales data which led to AAA MMD Index increases of 6 to 10 basis points (0.06%-0.10%) across the curve.

As a result of our marketing efforts, Baird received $28.5 million in orders (3.6x total par) with oversubscriptions on 4 maturities on the long end of the curve by as much as 5.4x. Because of these oversubscriptions, despite the MMD movement, we were able to lower yields by 5 basis points (0.05%) in the last four maturities, which increased the deposit to the project fund by approximately $41,500 and lowered the true interest cost by over 4 basis points (0.04%). The County secured a true interest cost of 5.32% over a 30-year term.