[Archived] City of Alexandria Sells $54.8 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

For Immediate Release
November 19, 2004
PIO 278-04/rdo

City of Alexandria Sells $54.8 Million in General Obligation Bonds

The City of Alexandria competitively sold $54.8 million in general obligation bonds yesterday, in order to finance capital projects in the approved Capital Improvement Plan, including a portion of the construction costs of T.C. Williams High School and $10 million for the acquisition of open space in the City.

The True Interest Cost of the winning bid was 3.927%, with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. submitting the winning bid. Its partner syndicate members were UBS Financial Services, M. R. Beal & Company and Hutchinson, Shockley, Erley & Co. As of early this afternoon, bonds remained available for public purchase through the members of this winning bond syndicate.

The bidding was very competitive, with ten firms submitting bids, and with less than 6/100ths of 1% separating the high bidder from the low bidder. This indicated a strong desire by many firms in the market to own City bonds. This in part reflects the City’s strong AAA/Aaa credit characteristics. Both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s investment services recently reaffirmed Alexandria’s top AAA/Aaa bond ratings. Alexandria remains as one of only 36 cities and towns and 30 counties in the United States with perfect bond ratings from the nation’s two leading municipal credit rating agencies.

The issuing of the Preliminary Official Statement and the bidding itself were conducted in real time on-line via the Internet, which has been the City’s practice since its 2000 bond sale. The City was the first local government in Virginia to use on-line bidding. It is now considered the general practice in the municipal bond industry.