Maryland Has Successful Sale Of $475 Million In General Obligation Bonds

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp announced that the Board of Public Works (BPW), composed of Governor Martin O’Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Kopp, completed the sale of $475,000,000 of General Obligation bonds today in two series.

Treasurer Kopp commented “Today’s results were very satisfying particularly in light of a challenging marketplace. The demand for Maryland bonds and the resulting favorable interest rates are a reflection of the top quality of Maryland’s credit and the security of the investment it provides.”

Competitive sales for Series A and Series B occurred at today’s BPW meeting. The State received bids for the $435,000,000 of Tax-Exempt Bonds (Series A) and the $40,000,000 of Taxable Bonds (Series B).

In today’s competitive sales: $435 million in tax-exempt bonds in Series A sold at a true interest cost of 3.155%; the winning bidder was J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and the net premium was $49,236,688. $40 million of Series B taxable bonds sold at a true interest cost of 1.176%; the winning bidder was Jeffries LLC and the discount was $79,022.

There were six bidders on Series A and ten bidders on Series B.

Treasurer Kopp said, “The State of Maryland was very successful in today’s sale of tax-exempt and taxable General Obligation bonds, achieving a favorable combined interest rate of 3.095%. Maryland taxpayers benefit not only from saving millions of dollars because of the State’s strong AAA bond rating, but also from the investment in Maryland’s schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons and cultural projects that the bond proceeds support.”

Maryland is one of only nine states to currently hold the AAA rating, the highest possible rating, from all three bond rating agencies. The Triple AAA was affirmed as recently as July 12, 2013, in anticipation of this bond sale.

The Maryland State Treasurer’s Office expects to conduct another bond sale in February or March 2014.