Transaction Details

Community Park District of La Grange Park

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Baird served as sole underwriter on the negotiated sale of the Community Park District of LaGrange Park’s $10,700,000 General Obligation Park Bonds, Series 2024 which carried an “Aa3” underlying Moody’s rating and qualified for “AA” rated bond insurance through Assured Guaranty.

Since the $10.7 million bond referendum was approved by voters in spring of 2023, construction costs significantly increased. As a result, Baird structured the bonds with 6.50% coupons throughout the curve to generate over $12.8 million in proceeds for the project. The project included adding a gymnasium with recreational amenities to the District’s existing recreation center.

The day of pricing, there were market headwinds due to heavy supply from the Federal Reserve implementing a 50 basis point (0.50%) rate cut at its September 18 meeting and issuers wanting to enter the market before the November presidential election.

As a result of our marketing efforts, Baird received $26,645,000 in orders (2.5x total par amount) with oversubscriptions in 12 of 17 maturities by as much as 4.9x. Because of these oversubscriptions, Baird was able to lower the yield in the final maturity 2048 by 5 basis points (0.05%) which increased the deposit to the District’s project fund by approximately $13,500.

Baird stepped up and underwrote the unsold balances of three maturities in the front end of the curve (2025-2027) totaling $520,000 (5% of the par amount).

The District secured a true interest cost of 4.51% on a 24-year financing.