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On January 24, 2024, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (“MSCBA”) priced its Project and  Refunding Revenue Bonds (State University Program) Series 2024A. Proceeds of the $148.3 million sale,  along with a $6.1 million release of debt service reserve funds and unspent proceeds, will be used to  refinance outstanding bonds, achieving over $22.5 million in budgetary savings spread primarily across  fiscal years 2024 through 2028 for the Authority’s nine State University campuses, as well as securing $2.2million of new money to finance a renewal project at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The net  present value savings are $14.7 million or 7.9% of the refunded bonds. 

The refunding component refinanced the MSCBA’s outstanding Series 2014A, 2014B and 2014C bonds ($31.2 million), which are currently callable, or have a call date of 5/1/24, in addition to escrowing to  maturity $440,000 of the Authority’s outstanding 2015A, 2016A and 2017A bonds. The transaction also  included a tender invitation to purchase back certain outstanding taxable bonds from bondholders (made  up of the MSCBA’s outstanding Series 2019B, 2019C and 2020A bonds). The Authority received over 680  offers from bondholders during the tender process for a total of approximately $162.0 million, or 25% of  the solicited bonds. The Authority will purchase approximately $139.9 million. Of the amount tendered,  $83.6 million represents non-callable bonds that could not have been economically refinanced via a  traditional refunding, $56.3 million relates to callable bonds whose call date is in 2028 or later, and due  to the low coupon rates, most of which would not have produced budgetary savings if the Authority had  attempted a traditional advance refunding.  

The transaction was met with strong investor demand, generating nearly $505 million of orders from  individual retail and 37 different professional retail and institutional investors, representing  approximately 3.4x the amount of tax-exempt bonds offered for sale. Due to the strong demand, yields  on the bonds were reduced by 1 to 7 basis points in varying maturities relative to the start of the order  period with the senior manager underwriting unsold balances at the original yields to preserve pricing,  resulting in final yields ranging from 3.05% in 2024 to 3.52% in the final maturity of 2043, with an all-in  TIC of 3.21%. 

BofA Securities served as senior manager and dealer manager on the transaction and the syndicate  included Jefferies LLC and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. serving as co-senior managers, Mischler  Financial Group, Inc., a Veteran’s Business Enterprise (“VBE”), Blaylock Van, LLC, a Minority Business  Enterprise (“MBE”), and Siebert Williams Shank & Co, a Women’s Business Enterprise (“WBE”) and an  MBE, serving as co-managers. Hilltop Securities Inc. served as the Financial Advisor. Hinckley, Allen &  Snyder, LLP served as bond counsel. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. served as  underwriter and dealer manager counsel. The bonds closed on February 1, 2024. 

The MSCBA finances, plans, designs, constructs, and oversees the management of residence halls and  student activity facilities on the nine State University campuses. The State University housing, dining,  parking, athletic and campus center facility projects developed by the Authority serve 40,000 students,  one third of whom live in campus housing. In addition, the MSCBA is authorized to fund and implement  projects for the fifteen Community Colleges.

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On July 11, 2023, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) received competitive bids  on a series of new money and refunding bonds. Masterson Advisors LLC, a majority women-owned firm,  served as the Financial Advisor. Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, LLP served as bond counsel. The Bonds have a  scheduled closing date of July 20, 2023. 

Raymond James & Associates, Inc. was the winning bidder for the Series 3) Project and Refunding Revenue  Bonds (the “Series 3 Bonds”) with a final True Interest Cost (“TIC”) of 3.92821% The Series 3 Bonds will  fund a new Learning and Resource Center at Bunker Hill Community College and refund certain bonds of  the Authority. Fifteen bids were received for this series with TICs ranging from 3.942748% to 4.161549%. 

The final par amount of this series is $36,165,000, which when combined with bond premium, will  generate a $37,923,484.40 for the project fund, escrow deposit, and issuance costs. The final maturity  date is May 1, 2053, and there is an optional redemption on or after May 1, 2033 at 100% of par. 

The MSCBA finances, design, and constructs residential, dining, parking, athletic, cultural, health care, and  other revenue-producing facilities for the Massachusetts state colleges, which include the public  institutions of higher education in the state university segment and the community college segment. The  authority is also authorized to provide supplemental financing for certain building projects at the state  university and community college campuses owned by the commonwealth and carried out by the Division  of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance.

On June 28, 2023, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) received competitive bids  on a series of new money bonds. Raymond James was the winning bidder for the Series 2023A Project  Revenue Bonds (the “Series 2023A Bonds”) with the lowest True Interest Cost (“TIC”) of 3.40%. The Series  2023A Bonds will fund residence hall renovations at Bridgewater State University and soccer field turf  replacement at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Seven bids were received for the bonds with  TICs ranging from 3.40% to 3.60%. The final par amount of the Series 2023A Bonds is $4,375,000, which  when combined with bond premium, will generate a $4,600,000 project fund deposit. The final maturity  date is May 1, 2043, and there is an optional redemption on or after May 1, 2033 at 100% of par. 

Hilltop Securities Inc. served as the Financial Advisor. Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, LLP served as bond  counsel. The bonds have a scheduled closing date of July 13, 2023. 

The MSCBA finances, plans, designs, constructs, and oversees the management of residence halls and  student activity facilities on the nine State University campuses. The State University housing, dining,  parking, athletic and campus center facility projects developed by the Authority serve 40,000 students,  approximately one third of whom live in campus housing. In addition, the MSCBA is authorized to fund  and implement projects for the fifteen Community Colleges.

Massachusetts State College Building Authority Sells Project and Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series 2022A

On February 2, 2022, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) priced its Project and Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series 2022A. The transaction consisted of both a new money and refunding component across seven of the Authority’s nine State University campuses.

Jefferies LLC served as the senior manager on the MSCBA’s $107,155,000 transaction. Ramirez & Co, Inc, a Minority Business Enterprise (“MBE”) and Raymond James & Associates, Inc served as co-senior managers while Blaylock Van, LLC, a Minority Business Enterprise (“MBE”), and Mischler Financial Group, Inc, a Veteran’s Business Enterprise (“VBE”) served as co-managers. Acacia Financial Group, Inc., a certified Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise Council, served as the Financial Advisor.  Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, LLP served as bond counsel.  The transaction closed on February 15, 2022.

This collaboration of public and private sector partners produced a true interest cost of 2.67% over thirty years on the new money component which included the campuses of Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Westfield State University. The refunding component refinanced the Authority’s outstanding callable 2012C Project Revenue Bonds and produced just over $6 million in present value savings or 5.4% of bonds refunded. The savings will benefit the campuses of Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Westfield State University and Worcester State University.

The Massachusetts State College Building Authority issued the bonds on a Tax-Exempt basis. The transaction was met with strong demand from investors and resulted in an all in TIC of 2.34%.  The bonds were placed with 42 unique investors, 34 of which were new investors for the MSCBA.

The MSCBA finances, plans, designs, constructs and oversees the management of residence halls and student activity facilities on the nine State University campuses.  The State University housing, dining, parking, athletic and campus center facility projects developed by the Authority serve 40,000 students, once third of whom live in campus housing.  In addition, the MSCBA is authorized to fund and implement projects for the fifteen Community Colleges.

On July 13, 2021, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) received competitive bids on two series of new money bonds and achieved the lowest cost of funds in its history. Acacia Financial Group, Inc., a certified Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise Council, served as the Financial Advisor. Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, LLP served as bond counsel. Both series have a scheduled closing date of July 22, 2021.

BofA Securities was the winning bidder for the Series 2021A (Green Bonds) Project Revenue Bonds (the “Series 2021A Bonds”) with the lowest True Interest Cost (“TIC”) of 2.02%. The Series 2021A Bonds will fund new capacity housing for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Twelve bids were received for this series with TICs ranging from 2.02% to 2.32%. The final par amount of this series is $16,825,000, which when combined with bond premium, will generate a $17,000,000 project fund deposit. The final maturity date is May 1, 2051, and there is an optional redemption on or after May 1, 2030 at 100% of par.

Raymond James was the winning bidder for the Series 2021B Project Revenue Bonds (the “Series 2021B Bonds”) with the lowest True Interest Cost (“TIC”) of 1.72%. The Series 2021B Bonds will fund renovations to Company 1 residence hall for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the Amsler Student Center at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Five bids were received for this series with TICs ranging from 1.72% to 2.04%. The final par amount of this series is $2,265,000, which when combined with bond premium, will generate a $2,500,000 project fund deposit. The final maturity May 1, 2041, and there is an optional redemption on or after May 1, 2030 at 100% of par.

The MSCBA finances, plans, designs, constructs, and oversees the management of residence halls and student activity facilities on the nine State University campuses. The State University housing, dining, parking, athletic and campus center facility projects developed by the Authority serve 40,000 students, one third of whom live in campus housing. In addition, the MSCBA is authorized to fund and implement projects for the fifteen Community Colleges.

On July 1, 2020, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA) closed its largest ever bond transaction which provided debt service relief to each of its nine State Universities for Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2022 while also achieving overall economic savings.   The debt restructuring was designed to assist the State Universities with navigating the financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.