Dinsmore Highly Ranked as Bond and Underwriter’s Counsel in 2017

February 5, 2018News Releases

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP earned high marks in The Bond Buyer 2017 rankings, including being ranked 17th nationally for bond counsel. Dinsmore earned the No. 1 overall ranking in Kentucky, No. 2 in Ohio and No. 3 in Pennsylvania. Thomson Reuters compiles transaction data for The Bond Buyer.

Nationally, Dinsmore completed 230 deals totaling $6,600.9 million. In Kentucky, Dinsmore earned the No. 1 overall ranking by serving as bond counsel on 41 issues totaling more than $1,326.7 million. The firm had 92 issues totaling $3,069.5 million, earning the No. 2 ranking in Ohio. In Pennsylvania, 77 issues totaling $1,193.5 million earned Dinsmore the No. 3 spot.

Other highlights include:

  • Fifth as bond counsel in the Mideast region for total volume of transactions ($3,335.6 million)
  • As underwriter’s counsel, Dinsmore ranked No. 8 overall in the Mideast region with 28 issues totaling $1,594.7 million. The Mideast region is comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
  • Sixth as bond counsel in Colorado for total volume of transactions ($182.7 million)

“The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as introduced in the U.S. House, contained provisions eliminating tax-exempt private activity bonds and advance refunding bonds, along with the elimination of tax credit bonds,” stated Tom Wilson, the firm’s Finance Department chair.  “This drove volume in the bond market to historic levels during the final two months of the year as borrowers rushed to get these transactions closed prior to the proposed January 1, 2018 effective date.  The final version of the tax act eliminated tax-exempt refunding issues, but preserved tax-exempt private activity bonds and the ability to issue tax credit bonds.  2018 will be an interesting year as the bond market adjusts to the new tax laws.”

Dinsmore also ranked highly in many of the bond counsel sub-categories Thomson measures. Nationally, the firm ranked fourth for Nursing Homes Long-Term Municipal New Issues and fifth for both Economic Development and Bank Qualified Long Term Municipal New Issues.