The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority is returning to the structured finance market with $184.8 million of Education Loan Revenue Bonds.
The Series 2015A notes will be used to acquire newly originated fixed-rate loans to residents of Massachusetts and students attending college and graduate school in the state, according to a prospectus. Xerox Education services will originate and service all of the loans.
The notes are expected to be rated AA’ by Standard & Poor’s and A’ by Fitch Ratings. Sizes and maturities of individual tranches have yet to be determined.
Morgan Stanley is the lead bank.
This will be the fourth series of notes to be issued by the MEFA; it issued $289 million in 2009, $405 million in 2010, $185.7 million in 2014. There are approximately $587.5 million of the notes outstanding.
In the prospectus, the MEFA said that it expects to use at least 72% of the proceeds to fund loans by the end of September.
It also expects to issue another $100 million of notes, the Series 2015B, by the end of the year. Proceeds from the 2015B notes will be used to finance “refinance” or consolidation loans, a new product still in development. The authority plans to offer both fixed-rate and floating-rate consolidation loans.
Massachusetts’ offering follows on the heels of several other states tapping the market to fund private student loans this year. Early this month, New Jersey’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority launched an offering of $180 million of bonds to fund the purchase of new loans over the next year and a half. And in April, the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority completed a $41 million deal backed by private student loans to residents and borrowers studying in the state.
Other issuers include Sallie Mae, which completed a $750 million deal in April, and SoFi and Navient, which came to market with $313.8 million and $689.0 million, respectively, in January.
