Wells Fargo Securities leads diverse underwriting syndicate as senior manager
Wells Fargo Securities announced today that it served as senior manager
for Champaign Unit 4 School District (the “District”) in its recent sale
of $110 million in general obligation bonds to finance improvements for
school buildings and sites. The district serves more than 10,000
students in grades pre-K through 12 in the Central Illinois communities
of Champaign, Savoy, and Bondville.
The bonds will improve eight facilities, including Dr. Howard Elementary
School, International Prep Academy, South Side Elementary School, Edison
Middle School, Central High School, Centennial High School, Spalding
Park, and McKinley Field.
“Wells Fargo is pleased to play a part in the renovation, modernization
and expansion of the Champaign School District,” said Larry Richardson,
the Chicago-based managing director and head of Midwest Public Finance
for Wells Fargo Securities. “Demand for the bonds was high, including a
big share of Illinois investors.”
Uncertainty about proposed tax reform led the district to upsize the
transaction to the maximum allowed under the bond resolution, according
to Thomas Lockman, chief financial and legal officer for Champaign Unit
4 School District.
“We are very pleased with the results of the sale and the resulting
benefit to the community,” Lockman said. “The proceeds acquired through
this transaction will allow for transformative educational opportunities
for generations of our community’s students and school staff.”
Wells Fargo Securities structured the transaction with serial bonds that
amortize from 2019 through 2031. Heavy investor demand pushed total
orders to $873 million and an oversubscription of 7.9 times, tightening
the spread across all maturities, according to Richardson. Retail
investors accounted for more than half of the order book, he said.
All-in interest cost for the district was 2.81 percent with an average
life of seven years.
In an effort to increase opportunities for minority- and women-owned
firms, the District selected a diverse underwriting syndicate, led by
Wells Fargo Securities as senior manager, with Piper Jaffray & Co.,
BAIRD, and Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. L.L.C. serving as co-senior
managers. Academy Securities, Blaylock Van, LLC, and Stern Brothers &
Co. served as co-managers. Ehlers & Associates and Comer Capital Group
serve as the District’s co-municipal advisors.
The sale of the bonds on Nov. 14 followed last year’s approval by
District voters for $183.4 million in general obligation bonds. The
District expects to issue the balance of the bonds in 2020 to pay the
remaining costs of facility projects.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based
financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s
vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them
succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco,
Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and
consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,400 locations,
13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has
offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct
business in the global economy. With approximately 268,000 team members,
Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells
Fargo & Company ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s
largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo
are also available at Wells
Fargo Stories. Wells Fargo Securities is the trade name for certain
securities-related capital markets and investment banking services of
Wells Fargo & Company and its subsidiaries, including Wells Fargo Bank,
N.A., acting through its Municipal Products Group.