U.S. Census-at-a-Glance Widget

Saturday, February 10, 2007

1/17/2007 Petco Park refi

from this morning's San Diego Business Journal news flash:

City Council OKs Ballpark Refinancing
By - 1/17/2007
San Diego Business Journal Staff

"The San Diego City Council approved a refinancing of its high-interest bonds Jan. 16 for Petco Park through a private placement arranged with Bank of America.

The city had planned to refinance the 2002 bonds, which carry a 7.66 percent rate, since 2004. But revelations about non-disclosures of expenses related to its employee pension plan triggered federal investigations and delayed annual financial audits that prevented the city from tapping into the public bond markets.

Mayor Jerry Sanders said the proposed alternative to the public market refinancing will save the city about $3.7 million annually, or $93 million during the 25-year term.

When the original ballpark bonds were issued in February 2002, the entire issue of $169.7 million was sold to underwriter Merrill Lynch.

The bonds carried the higher interest rate because of outstanding litigation on the ballpark, and the uncertainty of the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

City debt officials said the par amount on the outstanding ballpark debt is about $156.4 million. Using an estimated interest rate between 4.78 percent and 5.23 percent, the total refunding would be $172 million. The exact rate and refunding amount won’t be known until the transaction is concluded, likely in February, according to a city report.".......

"The city has been trying to get audits for fiscal years 2003 to 2006 for more than two years.

Petco Park, opened in 2004, cost about $450 million, with about two-thirds of the cost coming from public funds, and the remainder from the San Diego Padres."

— Mike Allen

for the complete article see: http://sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=109221&link=perm

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