Fitch Rates Chicago, IL's Series 2006 GO Direct Access Bonds 'AA'.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has assigned an 'AA' rating to the City of Chicago, Illinois' general obligation (GO) direct access bonds, series 2006. Fitch rated the series 2005 direct access bonds on Sept. 2, 2005. The direct access bond program, totaling $150.5 million and originally planned for multiple offering periods in September, October and November 2005, was extended through February 2006. The final program par amount was slightly less than the originally anticipated amount of $155 million, but the offering period continued through the program closing date of Feb. 9, 2006. The Rating Outlook is Stable. E[acute accent acute accent n. A mark (´) indicating: a. that a vowel is close or tense, as é in French été. b. that a vowel or syllable has a high or rising pitch, as in Chinese or Ancient Greek. c. ]The bonds were scheduled to price in multiple offering periods in 2005, beginning on Sept. 12, through a syndicate led by LaSalle Capital Markets. Issued in one or more sub-series, the bonds were offered solely to individual investors. The bonds financed various neighborhood and infrastructure improvements. The city's full faith and credit pledge, including all legally available revenues and assets available for such purposes, secures the issue. E[acute accent]The 'AA' rating reflects Chicago's diverse economy with limited volatility, improved financial performance and position, and improved financial flexibility due to the establishment of sizable siz·a·ble also size·a·ble adj. Of considerable size; fairly large. siz  a·ble·ness n. financial reserves. The improved financial position is associated with
the sale of the Chicago Skyway The Chicago Skyway also known as Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System is a 7.8 mile (12.5 km) long tollway bridging Interstate 90 at the Dan Ryan Expressway on the west end, and the Indiana Toll Road on the east end. concession ($1.8 billion), which enabled
debt reduction and the formation of long-term budgetary reserves. The
new reserves include a $500 million perpetual reserve fund and a $375
million mid-term reserve fund, both of which will produce steady
interest income streams. As the city maintained its reserves, it
countered cyclical cyclicalOf or relating to a variable, such as housing starts, car sales, or the price of a certain stock, that is subject to regular or irregular up-and-down movements. weakness in tax growth with sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. increases, personnel reductions, and broad-based cost-cutting. E[acute accent]For additional information, see the Fitch press release 'Fitch Rates Chicago, IL's $155MM GO Direct Access Bonds 'AA',' dated Sept. 2, 2005 and available on the Fitch ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com'. E[acute accent]Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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