Fitch Withdraws Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's 2004A C Rev Rfdg Bonds; Rates 2004C-1 Und 'AA-'.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2004 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. withdraws the underlying 'AA-' rating (Stable Rating Outlook) assigned to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's (MWAA MWAA Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority MWAA Mall Walker's Association of America MWAA Men Working Against Abuse (Seattle, WA) MWAA Mid-West Appraisers Association (Kearney, NE) ) $14 million of airport System Revenue Refunding Bonds refunding bond A bond that is issued for the purpose of retiring an outstanding bond. Issuers refund bond issues to reduce financing costs, eliminate covenants, and alter maturities. See also crossover refunding bonds, prerefunding. Series 2004A (Non-Alternative Minimum Tax (Non-AMT)), and the 'AA-' rating (Stable Rating Outlook) assigned to $207 million of airport system revenue refunding bonds, series 2004C (Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT See vPro. )). The rating withdrawals reflect the cancellation of the bond sales due to market conditions. At the same time, Fitch assigns an underlying 'AA-' rating (Stable Rating Outlook) to MWAA's $97.7 million of airport system revenue refunding bonds, series 2004C-1 (AMT). The series 2004C-1 bonds sold during April 2004 through and underwriting syndicate Underwriting syndicate A group of investment banks that work together to sell new security offerings to investors. The underwriting syndicate is led by the lead underwriter. See also: Lead underwriter. underwriting syndicate See syndicate. lead by Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), founded in 1850, is a diversified, global financial services firm. It is a participant in investment banking, equity and fixed income sales, research and trading, investment management, private equity, and private banking. . Proceeds of the bonds were used to refund a portion of outstanding series 1994A debt. Net revenues generated by Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport secure the bonds on a parity basis with outstanding airport system revenue debt. The series 2004C-1 bonds mature on Oct. 1, 2021. Proceeds of the series 2004A and 2004C bonds were scheduled to refund approximately $13.4 million of outstanding series 1993A bonds and $206 million of outstanding, unhedged series 1994A bonds, respectively. Recent financial market conditions have, however, made refunding the series 1993A bonds and a portion of the series 1994A debt disadvantageous dis·ad·van·ta·geous adj. Detrimental; unfavorable. dis·ad  van·ta to MWAA at the current time. Consequently, the series 2004A transaction was canceled. In place of the series 2004C bonds, the authority instead issued the series 2004C-1 bonds, refunding just $96.4 of outstanding, unhedged series 1994A debt. MWAA will re-evaluate the opportunity to refund the 1993A bonds and the remaining, unhedged 1994A debt later this summer. Fitch affirms the 'AA-' rating and Stable Rating Outlook for the remainder of MWAA's outstanding debt, including the $250 million of airport system revenue bonds, series 2004B (AMT) which sold earlier this month*. *For additional information, see Fitch research on 'Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority', dated April 21, 2004 and available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com'. |
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