Grant Thornton’s public finance practice has been selected as the structuring and refunding verification agent for NYS Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp.’s (TSFC) $959.1 million ABS offering, which was priced by Barclays Capital on Tuesday.
The Series A and Series B ABS received a rating of ‘AA-minus’ from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s. The securities range in maturity date from 2012 to 2018. Proceeds from the offering, which closes on July 7, will be used refinance $1.04 billion in outstanding TSFC ABS revenue bonds.
“We are proud to have been selected by the TSFC as the structuring and refunding verification agent on this significant bond refinancing transaction and to help New York State address the complexities of tobacco bonds securitization, ” Managing Principal of Grant Thornton’s Public Finance practice Kevin Stombaugh commented.
Grant Thornton’s public finance practice is the structuring agent or refunding verification agent on 23 tobacco securitizations and related bond offerings, according to the press release from the firm. These deals include Illinois’ Railsplitter Tobacco Settlement Authority’s $1.5 billion offering (December 2010), the Michigan Tobacco Settlement Finance Authority’s $202.4 million offering (July 2008), and Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority’s $5.5 billion offering (October 29, 2007), among others.
