Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Soooo, just who IS guaranteeing these bonds?-------Detroit lighting debt illuminates bankruptcy stigma: Muni credit

Detroit lighting debt illuminates bankruptcy stigma: Muni credit | Crain's Detroit Business:
"A debt sale by an agency responsible for illuminating the streets of bankrupt Detroit will put a spotlight on bondholders and their willingness to lend after investors took an unprecedented cut on city general obligations.
On its face, the $186 million deal has no mention of Detroit: The Michigan Finance Authority will sell the bonds Wednesday for the Public Lighting Authority, an agency the state established. 
The debt has an A- grade from Standard & Poor’s, four steps above junk, and the utility taxes that repay the debt flow to the agency’s trustee before the city.
Detroit, which hasn’t had a rating that high in 15 years, can’t lower the levy over the life of the securities.
Yet even with those protections, bond investors say there’s no sure thing when it comes to Detroit.
Last year, the city defaulted on general obligations before agreeing in April to pay 74 cents on the dollar on some debt.
It may also push water and sewer bondholders into a distressed-debt exchange.
.....“You have to take into account how they treated the water bonds, the sewer bonds and the general-obligation bonds,” he said. 
“It’s hard to know what to trust and what not to trust.”"

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