Jump to full article: Bloomberg News, 2009-03-16
Author: Jeremy R. Cooke
Intro: Wisconsin plans to raise $1.52 billion to help close its budget deficit by refinancing bonds backed by tobacco settlement money, in what would be the largest U.S. offering of tax-exempt, long-term debt in almost a year.
The deal also will be the biggest of almost $8 billion in state and local government bond sales planned for this week, a schedule that may exceed last week’s $7.5 billion. North Carolina’s Wake County, New York’s Dormitory Authority and the Los Angeles Community College District also plan to borrow.
Wisconsin’s offering of bonds and notes will be the first time since the 1998 master agreement with cigarette makers that tobacco-settlement securities will be refinanced with debt backed solely by state appropriations. The sale also represents a prelude to California’s $4 billion bond deal next week.
“Wisconsin’s probably going to be the test to see what the market can absorb,”
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