Wall Street and NYC Municipal Bond Financing
Dogora Sun
An American flag hangs near a Wall Street street sign in Manhattan's Financial District, a major center of the U.S. financial services industry. The photograph accompanies New York City's announcement of newly selected underwriting firms for municipa
New York City has chosen a new group of investment banks and financial firms to help manage future municipal bond offerings, which provide financing for government operations, infrastructure and other public investments. The appointments cover the city's general obligation bonds, Transitional Finance Authority securities and Municipal Water Finance Authority debt. Major Wall Street institutions will share underwriting responsibilities with smaller financial firms, including minority-, women- and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. The city will rotate lead assignments across transactions and evaluate firms based on their performance and financing recommendations. The selection process also creates opportunities for emerging underwriters to gain experience handling larger public bond offerings.
New York City and its Financing Entities Announce New Underwriter Groups
The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), the Office of the New York City Comptroller (“Comptroller’s Office”), the New York City Transitional Finance Authority (“TFA”), and the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority (“NYW”) (collectively, the “Issuers”) announced the selection of new underwriting syndicates today.
Underwriting Syndicate for New York City General Obligation Bonds and New York City Transitional Finance Authority Bonds
OMB, the Comptroller’s Office, and TFA conducted a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) process to select underwriters for City of New York (“City”) General Obligation (“GO”) Bonds, TFA Future Tax Secured Bonds, and TFA Building Aid Revenue Bonds.
Book-Running Senior Managers for GO and TFA transactions will be appointed from a pool that includes the following firms, listed in alphabetical order: Barclays, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Loop Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, Ramirez & Co., Raymond James, RBC Capital Markets, Siebert Williams Shank, and Wells Fargo.
The following firms, listed in alphabetical order, have been selected to serve as Book-Running Senior Managers for the first round of eight transactions (inclusive of both GO and TFA) taking place following this announcement: BofA Securities, Jefferies, Loop Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, Ramirez & Co., Raymond James, Siebert Williams Shank, and Wells Fargo. Book-Running Senior Managers for specific transactions will be assigned prior to the announcement of each transaction, with the remaining selected first round firms serving as co-senior managers. Firms in the Senior Manager pool not selected for a given round of transactions will serve as co-managers.
OMB, the Comptroller’s Office, and TFA expect to award GO/TFA Book-Running Senior Manager assignments to a new subset of firms in the Senior Manager pool at the conclusion of each round of transactions, based on factors including coverage and quality of ideas presented, performance during GO and TFA bond sales, responses to periodic solicitations, or as otherwise determined to be in the best interests of the City and/or TFA. Additionally, OMB, the Comptroller’s Office, and TFA expect to review the pool of Book-Running Senior Managers from time to time, and reserve the right to reassign firms and roles based on ongoing coverage and needs of the City and/or TFA.
The Co-Managers selected to underwrite GO and TFA bonds, listed in alphabetical order, are: Academy Securities, American Veterans Group, Blaylock Van, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, Cabrera Capital Markets, Drexel Hamilton, Fidelity Capital Markets, Huntington Securities, Mesirow Financial, Mischler Financial Group, Oppenheimer & Co., Roosevelt & Cross, Stern Brothers & Co., Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, TD Financial Products, and Truist Securities.
Underwriting Syndicate for New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority Bonds
NYW, in conjunction with OMB and the Comptroller’s Office, conducted an RFP process to select underwriters for NYW bonds.
Book-Running Senior Managers for NYW transactions will be appointed from a pool that includes the following firms, listed in alphabetical order: Barclays, BofA Securities, Jefferies, Loop Capital Markets, Mesirow Financial, Morgan Stanley, Ramirez & Co., Raymond James, Siebert Williams Shank, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company.
The following firms, listed in alphabetical order, have been selected to serve as Book-Running Senior Managers for the first round of four NYW transactions taking place following this announcement: BofA Securities, Jefferies, Raymond James, and Siebert Williams Shank. Book-Running Senior Managers for specific transactions will be assigned prior to the announcement of each transaction, with the remaining selected first round firms serving as co-senior managers. Firms in the Senior Manager pool not selected for a given round of transactions will serve as co-managers.
NYW, in conjunction with OMB and the Comptroller’s Office, expects to award Book-Running Senior Manager assignments to a new subset of firms in the Senior Manager pool at the conclusion of each round of transactions, based on factors including coverage and quality of ideas presented, performance during NYW bond sales, responses to periodic solicitations, or as otherwise determined to be in the best interests of NYW. Additionally, NYW, in conjunction with OMB and the Comptroller’s Office, expects to review the pool of Book-Running Senior Managers from time to time, and reserves the right to reassign firms and roles based on ongoing coverage and the needs of NYW.
The Co-Managers selected to underwrite NYW bonds, in alphabetical order, are: Academy Securities, American Veterans Group, Blaylock Van, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, Cabrera Capital Markets, Drexel Hamilton, FHN Financial Capital Markets, Fidelity Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs, Huntington Securities, J.P. Morgan, Oppenheimer & Co., RBC Capital Markets, Rice Financial Products Company, Roosevelt & Cross, Stern Brothers & Co., TD Financial Products, Truist Securities, and Wells Fargo.
NYW Special Bracket
To provide additional opportunities for firms to gain experience with underwriting NYW bond sales, NYW, in conjunction with OMB and the Comptroller’s Office, has selected firms that will partner with a Book-Running Senior Manager in the capacity of joint lead manager on a bond issue for NYW. Such special bracket assignments will be determined by NYW from time to time.
The special bracket firms, in alphabetical order, are: Blaylock Van, Cabrera Capital Markets, FHN Financial Capital Markets, and Rice Financial Products Company.
Appointments Reflect Continued Commitment to Small, MWBE, and SDVBE Firms
The appointments made today reflect the strong presence of small firms, minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises (“MWBE”), and service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprises (“SDVBE”). Through Book-Running Senior Manager assignments and Special Bracket assignments, the Issuers remain committed to providing growth opportunities for small, MWBE, and SDVBE firms.
Additional Assignments
OMB, the Comptroller’s Office, TFA, and NYW reserve the right to further reward firms for ideas and performance by making changes to appointments and assignments described in this release, as well as awarding underwriting assignments for other City bond financing entities as necessary.
Source: NYC Comptroller's Office
