Treasurer Diossa Announces Successful Sale of General Obligation Bonds

Published on Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Providence, RI – Today, Rhode Island General Treasurer James A. Diossa announced that the State of Rhode Island had a successful sale of $146,705,000 of General Obligation Bonds (GO), comprised of $122,405,000 of Consolidated Capital Development Loan of 2023, Series A (Tax-Exempt) and $24,300,000 of Consolidated Capital Development Loan of 2023, Series B (Federally Taxable).

“Across the nation, we have witnessed a recent sharp sell-off in the bond market, yet the demand for Rhode Island bonds continues to be strong, as demonstrated during the successful two-day order period,” said General Treasurer Diossa. “Whether it’s our financing of housing, clean energy, infrastructure, or the community, Rhode Island GO bonds is the ideal investment vehicle to put dollars to work.”

• During the order period, the State received orders for the bonds totaling over $460 million, representing 3.2x the bonds offered. The orders included almost $200 million of orders from retail investors.
• Given the investor demand, the yields on the tax-exempt bonds were reduced by up to 8 basis points. The final all-in true interest cost for both the tax-exempt and taxable bonds was 4.52%.
• The bonds will help support a range of key capital projects that have been approved by the voters, including school building construction, affordable housing, economic development and environmental needs.

The bonds were rated AA by Fitch Ratings and S&P and Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service. Fitch Ratings revised the State’s outlook from stable to positive.