Arizona Sells Supreme Court Building $300 Million Leaseback Bond Deal
Posted By thestatedtruth.com on June 10, 2010
Arizona Sells Supreme Court Building in $300 Million Bond Deal
         By Allison Bennett and Brendan A. McGrail
June 8 (Bloomberg) — Arizona, which sold state prisons and offices to raise cash six months ago, plans to borrow $300 million by marketing its Supreme Court building and about a dozen more properties through leaseback bonds starting today.
Investors will hold ownership of the court building in Phoenix, the fifth-largest U.S. city, and the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in Tucson for as much as 20 years, with the securities maturing serially from 2012 through 2029, according to offering documents. Lease payments will back the debt, known as certificates of participation.
Arizona, whose foreclosure rate last year was ranked second-highest after Nevada by RealtyTrac Inc., will use the sale to pay for three months of school aid. The state raised $709 million for education payments when it sold and then leased back nine properties to investors in January.
“From an investor point of view, this is great,†state Treasurer Dean Martin, 35, said in an interview. “The state has to have buildings to operate and we’re the largest employer in Arizona.â€
Arizona’s last such sale was Jan. 14. Five-year securities were priced to yield 3.07 percent, 32 basis points above a Bloomberg Fair Market Value index of comparable certificates at the time. The debt traded June 4 at an average yield of 2.79 percent, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data, 3 basis points above the index.
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