Private companies may still be having a difficult time obtaining credit, but the market for municipal bonds has improved considerably in the past six mon
ths, according to Smith, Gambrell & Russell partner Ben Brooks.
Brooks and another public finance partner at Smith Gambrell, James Monacell, are working on two pending sales of muni bonds by Georgia government entities. Brooks is bond counsel to the Whitfield County School District on a $68.3 million general-obligation bond sale. Monacell is bond counsel to Henry County on a $66.2 million sale.
The rates that Whitfield County obtained for its bond sale range between 3 percent and 5 percent, Brooks said. That’s a decrease from earlier this year when the rates would have ranged between 5 percent and 6 percent, he said.
“As a very general matter, the market for traditional tax-exempt debt has stabilized quite a bit,” Brooks said. “So you see these two deals pricing with fairly good rates.”
The average yield was 2.1 percent for the Henry County issue and 2.7 percent for Whitfield County, Monacell said.
The Henry County bond sale priced this week and will close later this month. The Whitfield County bonds are also scheduled to close later this month. Henry County will use the bond proceeds to repay debt, acquire property and fund other projects. Whitfield County plans to use its proceeds to build new schools [photo, above], including a new high school to open in August 2010, and to renovate current schools.
King & Spalding partner Woody Vaughan and associate Allison Dyer are counsel to Morgan Keegan & Co., the underwriter of the Whitfield County schools issue. Harben, Hartley & Hawkins partner Cory Kirby in Gainesville is general counsel to the Whitfield County School District.
Sutherland partner Matt Nichols is counsel to Morgan Keegan, which is also underwriting the Henry County issue. LaTonya Nix Wiley in McDonough is the Henry County Attorney.