Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 08/22/2016: Birmingham Water Works Board
This week’s featured bond comes from the City of Birmingham Water Works Board. The capital of the Cotton State is scheduled to issue $456 million in revenue refunding bonds the week of August 22, 2016. These bonds are scheduled to be issued in three series: $151 million are tax-exempt senior revenue water refunding bonds, Series 2016-A; $273 million are tax-exempt subordinate water revenue refunding bonds, Series 2016-B; $34 million are Federally taxable subordinate water revenue refunding bonds, Series 2016-C. The proceeds from each series are to be used for advanced refunding, but Series 2016-B and Series 2016-C are also to be used partially for financing capital improvements. The bonds are considered special obligations of the Water Board, paid solely by water system revenues. These details and more on purposes, security, and other matters can the found in the official statement, provided by MuniOS.
The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area currently has an unemployment rate of 6.0% as of June 2016, up 0.6% from May, but even from June 2015. Alabama’s unemployment rate is 5.8% as of July 2016, higher than the national rate of 4.9%.
Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the Birmingham Water Works Board, along with the medians for water utilities, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database. These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.