[Archived] City of Alexandria Sells $55 Million in General Obligation Bonds

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

The City of Alexandria competitively sold today $55 million in general obligation bonds to a syndicate led by Salomon Smith Barney, at a true interest cost of 5.306357 percent. The tax-exempt bonds, which will mature incrementally over the next 20 years, will be used to finance public improvements, including City and School facilities and infrastructure. Other members of the Salomon Smith Barney winning syndicate included PaineWebber, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, BB&T Capital Markets, Ferris, Baker & Watts, Inc., Charles Schwab & Co. and William Blair & Company.

According to James Traudt, senior vice president of Davenport & Company, and the City’s independent financial advisor, “This was a good time to issue. The bond market continues to be an attractive environment for issuers.

"There is a strong demand for bonds and interest rates remain favorable,” Traudt said.

Alexandria City Manager Philip Sunderland added, “There was a high demand for the City’s bonds as shown by bids received from eight different bidding syndicates comprised of 31 different financial institutions.

"The high level of competition for the City’s bonds and the favorable bids reflect the market’s perception of Alexandria's top economic and financial condition,” Sunderland said.

Last week, the nation’s two leading municipal bond rating agencies, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) reaffirmed their highest credit ratings (Aaa and AAA) for the City. Alexandria is one of only 29 cities in the entire United States with these top bond ratings.

“These top ratings reflect the City’s strong fiscal practices and policies, and will save the City more than $500,000 in interest costs,” Alexandria Mayor Kerry J. Donley said.

For the first time, the City issued its bond prospectus through the Internet, put the bond prospectus on its web site and took bond bids on the Internet.

"This allowed the City to reach more of the investment community much faster and made bidding more efficient and timely,” Mark Jinks, director of Financial and Information Technology Services, said.

The second best bid at a true interest cost of 5.309745 percent was received from Merrill Lynch & Company.