Friday, July 21, 2017

Second Bond Refunding Adds an Additional $83 Million in Interest Savings

​Total Interest Savings from Bond Refunding Almost $100 million
Raleigh, N.C.
Jul 21, 2017

State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, through the State and Local Government Finance Division (SLGFD), announced today the sale of approximately $618 million of limited obligation refunding bonds. The bonds were issued and sold to take advantage of lower interest rates, thus reducing debt service costs for taxpayers. Seven bidders signed up for the July 20, 2017 sale, with Goldman Sachs purchasing the bonds at an interest rate of 2.27 percent, saving North Carolina taxpayers $83.55 million in debt service costs.

Today’s sale was the second of three planned for the summer. Last week, Treasurer Folwell and the SLGFD issued approximately $106 million of general obligation refunding bonds. The bonds were purchased by Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. at an interest rate of 1.39 percent saving taxpayers $15 million in debt service costs.

“This refunding is the largest of the three,” said Treasurer Folwell. “Like last week’s refunding, we were pleased to be able to secure such a favorable interest rate. In fact, the interest rate we were able to secure today was even lower than what we had anticipated. So far, with these two sales, we have realized almost $100 million in savings for North Carolina taxpayers. That means more money for roads, classrooms and law enforcement; those core functions that people expect from government.”