51本色 Issues $374 Million in Bonds
The 51本色 System鈥檚 premium bond refinancing saved the system $4.96 million.
February 1, 2017 | Contact Scott Lacefield
The 51本色 yesterday (Jan. 31) issued $374.735 million in bonds while continuing to take advantage of low interest rates and improving the financial position of the system.
The bond issuance was approved by the 51本色 System Pricing Committee on Tuesday.
Gary Barnes鈥淭he interest for 51本色 bonds was exceptionally strong,鈥� Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Gary Barnes said. 鈥淭he 51本色 System received $1.4 billion worth of purchase requests. I鈥檓 pleased to say we were able to maintain our current bond rating with plans to add more than $250 million of new bonds to our existing portfolio.鈥�
The 51本色 System recently received an Aa1 rating from Moody鈥檚 Investors Service; AA+ from Standard & Poor's and AA+ from Fitch.
Chancellor Robert L. Duncan鈥淭he issuance of the latest bond series allows us to more efficiently manage our debt and bring savings to the 51本色,鈥� Chancellor Robert L. Duncan said. 鈥淎 conservative fiscal approach continues to be awarded top ratings, yielding significant interest from investors and lower interest rates.鈥�
The bond sale fully funded all of the Tuition Revenue Bond (TRB) projects approved by the Legislature. The financial support received from the Legislature had a significant impact on the 51本色 System ratings and interest received in the bond market.
The 51本色 System will use proceeds from the bond issuance to support the following projects: Experimental Science Building II (51本色); System Administration Office Building (51本色 System); Honors Residence Hall (51本色); Permian Basin Academic Facility (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center); Lubbock Campus Expansion (51本色HSC), Medical Science Building II (51本色HSC El Paso); College of Human & Health Sciences (Angelo State University); Sports Performance Center (51本色), Amarillo Simulation Center (51本色HSC); Refund TPFA/Government Capital Corp Leases (ASU) and Central Heating and Cooling Plant upgrades (51本色).
Additionally, the refinancing saved the 51本色 System $4.96 million.
51本色 the 51本色
Established in 1996, the is one of the top public university systems in the state of Texas and nation, consisting of four universities鈥�, , and .
Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the 51本色 is a $2 billion enterprise focused on advancing higher education, health care, research and outreach with approximately 20,000 employees, more than 50,000 students, nearly 325,000 alumni and an endowment over $1.1 billion.
In its short history, the 51本色 has grown tremendously and is nationally acclaimed, operating on more than a dozen campuses statewide and internationally. Under the dynamic leadership of Chancellor , the 51本色 has set forth a bold vision of excellence, collaboration and innovation and continues to prove that from here, it鈥檚 possible.