Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of 12/10/2018: The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority — $430 Million Toll Highway Senior Revenue Bonds, 2018 Series A (Refunding)
This week’s featured bond is one of the highest rated major bond issuers from the State of Illinois. The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is planning to issue $430 million Senior Revenue Bonds in the amount of $ $430 million the week of December 10, 2018. These tollway revenue bonds are being issued in a single series. the Series 2018 and will be secured on an equal basis with other senior bonds of the tollway, payable from the net revenues of the toll authority and certain other designated funds.
The bond proceeds will be used to refund portions of Series 2007A, Series 2008 A and Series 2009 A bonds; pay the costs of terminating swap agreements associated with the Bonds, to make deposits in the Debt Reserve Account and to pay the costs of issuance.
The Illinois State Toll Highway system primarily serves the Chicago metropolitan area and encompasses 284 miles of interstate highways spanning 12 counties. The Authority has exclusive right to fix, revise and collect tolls.
The Tollway’s current capital program is estimated to cost approximately $14 billion, financed with $5.8 billion of bond proceeds and the remainder with pay-as-you-go revenues. Accoridng to Authority, approximately $2.9 billion in additional revenue bonds are projected to be issued under its current capital plan.
The Bonds being issued are rated AA3 by Moody’s, AA- by Standard & Poor’s and AA- by Fitch.
Further details on the purposes, tax-status, refunding schedule, and security, as well as other matters pertaining to these Illinois State Toll Highway Authority revenue bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, provided by MuniOS. An audio roadshow is available accompanying the official statement on munios.com. Interested parties should search by the name of the issuer and register with the site.
Financial Snapshot of The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the North Texas Tollway Authority, compared with the medians for toll authorities, as of 12/31/2016, 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.