The Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency Thursday will sell roughly $135 million of new-money and refunding revenue debt on behalf of Bard College.
Also in the pipeline to sell over the next few weeks is a $4 million bond sale for Simon's Rock College of Bard, which is located in southwestern Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Development Finance Agency will issue the debt on behalf of Simon's Rock.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. is underwriter for both fixed-rate sales. There is no outside financial adviser and Nixon Peabody LLP is bond counsel.
Moody's Investors Service rates the deals A3. Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's do not rate Bard College. The credit has $100 million of outstanding debt.
No insurance is anticipated at this time, according to Michelle Li, an analyst at Goldman.
Bard's sale consists of two series: Series A-1 for about $96 million to refund previously issued debt and Series A-2 for $39 million, which will help finance various capital projects around the school's campus.
The Simon's Rock sale also will refund previously sold debt, with Bard College anticipating a combined net-present-value savings of at least 3%, or $3.5 million, between the two refunding sales, according to Li.
Bard College is 90 miles north of New York City in Annandale-on-Hudson and has a current undergrad enrollment of about 1,600. Annual tuition is currently $35,784, according to the school's Web site. Simon's Rock is 50 miles from Bard College and offers high-school students the chance to pursue college studies after completing their 10th or 11th grades. Its tuition is roughly $32,834.
