Transaction Details

Baytown Area Water Authority

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On May 9, 2024, Baird served as senior managing underwriter to the Baytown Area Water Authority (the “Authority”) on its $21,525,000 Water Supply Contract Revenue Bonds, Series 2024 (the “Bonds”). Proceeds from the sale of the Bonds will be used for raw water rehabilitation projects and phase 2 of the East surface water treatment plant expansion. The Bonds were structured for level debt service payments over the next 16-years.

The Bonds were originally expected to price in late April until uncertainty surrounding recently released Environmental Protection Agency standards warranted delaying the pricing to the week of May 6. The market tone early that week was strong with several transactions pricing well. On the morning of May 9, initial jobless claims came in above forecast and treasuries strengthened slightly after some weakness overnight. Investor appetite was nonetheless limited as many had heavily participated earlier in the week and fatigue had begun to set in. With perseverance from our sales desk, we were able to catch a very favorable indication for all bonds maturing 2031-2040 down 5-8 bps. With that indication in hand, we adjusted the unsold bonds 5-8 bps cheaper and committed to underwriting $6.26 million par. The true-interest cost for the bonds was finalized at 3.64%.