South Carolina Pricing Homeownership Revenue Bonds

The South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority next week expects to price $100 million of homeownership revenue bonds in its first issuance under the Treasury Department's New Issue Bond Program. According to a report by the Bond Buyer, the deal includes $60 million of tax-exempt bonds the HFA will convert from short-term, taxable debt bought by the Treasury at the end of 2009. Like other issuers participating in the NIBP, South Carolina needs to convert the debt by the end of this year if it wants to use proceeds to purchase mortgage-backed securities. The deal also includes $40 million of new money tax-exempt bonds that the South Carolina HFA is required to issue to match the Treasury purchase. The bonds will be offered to retail investors Monday and to institutional investors Tuesday. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is lead underwriter, with Barclays Capital and Citigroup Securities. The Bond Buyer is an affiliate of National Mortgage News.