City of Wichita, Kansas

In March 2012, the City of Wichita, Kansas established the K-96 Greenwich STAR Bond District, which allows incremental sales taxes generated within the District to be used to finance projects that are approved by the State. The City issued bonds in 2013 to fund various projects in the District. In 2016, the City expanded the District and received approval to issue additional STAR bonds to complete a soccer complex and other recreational improvements. The existing bond covenants from the 2013 bond issue underwritten by another investment banking firm were onerous and not flexible enough to allow for the desired financing.

The Solution

Crews was able to work with the City to refinance their existing debt and provide new funds for the needed improvements. Our firm acted as the sole senior manager and underwrote the non-rated 16-year, fixed rate, tax-exempt bonds. The bonds were secured solely by the incremental sales taxes generated within the District.

The Difference

Crews worked hard to serve our client in extraordinary ways by:

  1. Advance refunding the prior bonds at significant interest rate savings and better terms than the previous underwriting,
  2. Completing the financing to meet the City’s timeline
  3. Providing flexible redemption provisions and bond covenants
  4. Obtained very attractive rates compared to similar credits
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