CHICAGO – Illinois has selected Mayer Brown from among 18 law firms that submitted proposals to work as the state’s bond and disclosure counsel for the next two years.
The state’s procurement office made its choice public Monday in an award notice posted on its IllinoisBID website. Mayer Brown was chosen based on its top score, state debt manager John Sinsheimer said.
The state launched a competitive selection process in July to establish new financial advisory and underwriting pools.
At that time, officials decided to select only one firm to serve as bond and disclosure counsel instead of establishing a rotating list of firms. The state wanted to ensure consistency in the fiscal information provided in offering statements, roadshow presentations, and in public comments, as a result of heightened regulatory scrutiny.
The state also posted its new pool of six qualified financial advisers on Monday. The state on Friday posted the firms qualified to serve as bookrunners, co-senior managers and co-managers on negotiated sales over the next two years.
The state will hold a public drawing on Sept. 21 in Chicago with the Illinois Lottery’s Linda Kollmeyer drawing the names to determine the rotation lists. All qualified vendors are encouraged to attend. The state expects to post the new list of qualified underwriters counsel prior to the drawing so that rotation list would also be included in the public drawing.
