Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 05/01/2017: Hawaii General Obligation Bonds (State of Hawaii Taxable and Tax-Exempt) – $856 Million
This week’s featured bond comes from the State of Hawaii. The State of Hawaii is issuing general obligation bonds bonds in the amount of $856 million the week of May 08, 2017. The bonds consist of six separate series. A single series, Series FK, make up the bulk of the bonds issued. They amount to $575 million of tax-exempt general obligations, to be used for general purposes toward public improvement projects. Series FO and Series FP, in the amount of $37.5 million and $7.5 million respectively, are being issued for the same purposes as Series FK, but the interest on these bonds may be considered federally taxable. The three remaining series, Series FL – $4.2 million, Series FM – $1.2 million, and Series FN – $231 million, are each tax-exempt general obligations, being issued for the purpose of refunding previously issued general obligation bonds of the State of Hawaii from the years 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Security on these bonds is backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Hawaii, and the bonds shall be a first charge on the General Fund of the State. Further details on the purposes, security, and other matters pertaining to these Hawaii general obligation bonds can the found in the preliminary official statement, provided by MuniOS.
As of March 2017, the State of Hawaii has an unemployment rate of 2.6%, which is 1.9% lower than the national rate for March, and 0.4% lower than at the same time in 2016. The chart below shows the changes in the State of Hawaii and U.S. unemployment rates for the past ten years. MuniNet provides this data and more, easily accessible, for all 50 states and each Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country, in our Employment Database.
Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the State of Hawaii, as of 06/30/2016, along with the medians for other U.S. States for 2015-2016, 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.