Public Finance

Experience

$69,130,000 School Facilities Construction & Impt.Refunding Bonds, Series 2015, dated 5/21/15

Structured public private partnership between Ohio City and charitable trust for park development and preservation

Using a public private partnership between the City and a charitable trust, structured the acquisition financing of blighted properties abutting shoreline of Ohio’s largest man-made lake. Through the partnership’s efforts, the properties will be redeveloped and available for park and greenspace purposes for future generations to come.

Tax-Exempt Healthcare Financing for Community Hospital Accomplishes Saving and Plows More Money Back into Healthcare Mission

Guided community hospital through tax-exempt bond new money and refinancing process achieving substantial refinancing savings. Proceeds from the bonds were used to acquire much needed hospital bed upgrades and new technology for diagnostics, surgery and oncology, all of which are critical to the delivery of effective health care services to the community.

Joining Economic Development and Brownfield Development to Further Community Goals

With an old municipal landfill holding up development in an otherwise vibrant and growing suburban community, worked with a community improvement corporation to structure acquisition and construction financing for environmental remediation of a brownfield and the creation of a nine-hold executive golf course, clubhouse and driving range allowing for adjacent mixed-use development to move the development forward.

Ohio’s First Large Scale P3 Project– the Portsmouth Bypass Project

Maneuvering Ohio’s new P3 statute and contributing to the successful coordination of financial close on over $200 million in tax-exempt private activity bonds, we assisted the finance team on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s first P3 deal for the 16-mile, four-lane limited access highway that links Rts 23 and 52 in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Unique Draw-Down Direct Bank Purchase Advance Refunding Bonds Saves Local Hospital Interest Expense

All tax-exempt direct purchases are definitely not alike. Counseling a bank client on the offering of a variable rate, draw-down advance refunding of tax-exempt bonds with a forward starting swap wasn’t a run-of-the-mill financing but through our efforts the bank retained a valuable hospital client and the hospital took advantage of historically low interest rates to achieve substantial savings.

Floating Rate Note Programs – Multiple Benefits Achieved

Representing an underwriter in for State Revolving  Fund Program structuring multiple tax-exempt and taxable floating rate note programs for a State revolving fund issuer for various water development purposes.  The issuer achieved not only access to capital on flexible, market terms, but also accomplished its state law objectives that would otherwise restrict it from making critical loans to local governments prior to the issuance of long-term fixed rate bonds.

$100 million Financing of Department of Transportation District and County Outpost Facilities

Managing approximately 19,300 of roadway under its jurisdiction, we assisted the Department in a financing of $100 million in improvements to its District and County outpost facilities where most highway-related functions are preformed, like planning, design, construction, engineering and maintenance.

Refinancing State Water Program Bonds

Marc worked with the finance team to move quickly into the market to take advantage of market conditions for significant present value savings for the program, ultimately benefiting local government agency borrowers.

Higher Education Financing – Helping Our Clients Provide for Their Educational Environments

Configuring two different credit facilities to achieve refinancing interest expense savings and to leverage long-term investment income and short term interest rates, we assisted in the development of a program of financing that allowed this institution of higher learning to conserve its financial resources and further its educational mission.

$20.9 million bonds for National Church Residences Flexible Bond Program

We served as bond counsel for National Church Residences, an Ohio nonprofit corporation that specializes in the development, construction and management of affordable and market rate housing for seniors in its 330+ facilities located in 28 states and Puerto Rico. In these transactions, we worked with our client - and its special purpose financial advisor - to create a flexible bond program. This allows separate series of bonds to be issued by the Public Finance Authority, a multi-jurisdictional issuer, for the benefit of various affiliates of our client.

One of the unique aspects of these transactions is that tax-exempt or taxable bonds for the benefit of different borrower-affiliates may be issued under a common master bond indenture, which allows for bonds of each series to be issued relatively quickly and efficiently for the benefit of our client and its affiliates. This enables our client to coordinate their capital needs with their acquisition and/or construction schedules.

Underwriter’s Counsel for Unique Tender Offer and issuance of $125 million revenue bond

We served as Underwriter’s Counsel to our client, RBC Capital Markets (Underwriter) in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt revenue bonds for Ashland Hospital Corporation d/b/a King’s Daughters Medical Center. The medical center is a 465-licensed bed acute care hospital, with related facilities, located in the northwest region of Kentucky. In this transaction, a portion of the proceeds of the Series 2014 Bonds was used to finance the costs of the purchase of bonds previously issued for the benefit of the client (Tendered Bonds). The Tendered Bonds were obtained by the client through a successful tender process with the assistance of the Underwriter and Dinsmore pursuant to an Invitation to Tender Bonds filed with the MSRB’s electronic municipal market access system.

Other Representative Deals

$74,380,000 Michigan Finance Authority Hospital Revenue Refunding Bonds (Bronson Healthcare Group, Inc.), Series 2019A

$63,670,000 Michigan Finance Authority Hospital Revenue Bonds (Bronson Healthcare Group, Inc.), Series 2019B

$59,715,000 Michigan Finance Authority Hospital Revenue Bonds (Bronson Healthcare Group, Inc.), Series 2019C

$44,095,000 City of Middleburg Heights, Ohio Hospital Facilities Improvement and Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series 2020A (Southwest General Health Center Project) (Tax-Exempt)

$26,040,000 City of Middleburg Heights, Ohio Hospital Facilities Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series 2020B (Southwest General Health Center Project) (Federally Taxable)

$10,325,000 Lorain County Port Authority Economic Development Facilities Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2021A (Kendal at Oberlin)

$3,500,000 Lorain County Port Authority Economic Development Facilities Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2021B (Kendal at Oberlin)

$94,420,000 South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2022A (Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc.) dated September 29, 2022

$96,355,000 Virginia Small Business Financing Authority Health Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2022A (Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc.) dated September 29, 2022

$213,320,000 County of Allen, Ohio Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2022B (Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc.)

$47,970,000 County of Franklin, Ohio Health Care Facilities Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2022 (First Community Village Obligated Group)

$59,925,000 County of Franklin, Ohio Health Care Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2023 (Ohio Living Communities)

$14.2 million bond counsel for independent senior living and care organization

When the Laurel Lake Retirement Community was presented with the opportunity to become an independent senior living and care organization, it turned to us for counsel on the financing. We enlisted the help of the County of Summit, Ohio, to serve as issuer for a portion of the debt and worked closely with Laurel Lake and BB&T Capital Markets.

Through these partnerships, we helped to bring to life a master indenture financing structure involving three separate series of bonds for the tax-exempt portion of the financing and several separate taxable note issues. These included (i) a senior series of tax-exempt bonds, which was paired with an accompanying taxable portion of the financing, as an attractive investment to banks, (ii) two subordinate series of tax-exempt bonds, one fixed rate and the other adjustable rate, which were marketed to retail investors, and (iii) several series of taxable notes placed with banks.

We helped guide Laurel Lake and the County through the bond issuance process and related tax issues, holding the public hearings mandated by the Internal Revenue Service regulations, drafting the necessary bond and tax documentation and ultimately playing an important role in helping our client secure the lowest possible financing costs in reaching its goals.

$47 million restructuring and acquisition transaction for national senior living provider

We acted as bond counsel for Bethesda Associates, a Colorado based national senior living provider. This transaction contained (i) restructuring an existing $23 million tax exempt bond to take advantage of new, more advantageous repayment terms and (ii) financing the acquisition of two new assisted living facilities through a second cross–collateralized $24 million tax exempt bond. Both bonds were purchased by a single bank.

We created a new Master Trust Indenture as part of our engagement which permitted Bethesda to treat the 2014 Bonds on a parity basis and also gave it the ability to enter into new financings in the future on a parity basis with the 2014 Bonds. The bank, which owned the old bonds, offered new, advantageous loan terms to our client. However, it was critical to avoid a reissuance of the old bonds for tax purposes when implementing the changes, because public hearings would have been required under the Internal Revenue Code in Arizona, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, and two locations in Nebraska.

We worked with the bank purchaser to extend the bank holding period for the old bonds but without extending the bond maturity. We were able to lower the interest rate within IRS guidelines avoiding the reissuance. We also advised the bank relative to its written commitments to purchase the bonds in order to keep the two bond issues separate for tax purposes, as well as making sure the existing swap agreements were integrated into the new bond issue.

Counseled client, a hospital, through successful refinancing driven by 2008 market meltdown

Regional West Medical in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, issued $45 million variable rate demand bonds in 2005 for refinancing and new money purposes, which were secured by bond insurance and a bank letter of credit. Because of the financial crisis in 2008, the bond insurer collapsed and the letter of credit bank became the owner of the bonds. In a series of five transactions over the next five years, Regional West successfully restructured its debt portfolio with our assistance as bond counsel and borrower’s counsel.

Credit was scarce during the recession, even for an investment grade rated hospital like Regional West, and the interest rates on the bonds held by the letter of credit bank were high. As credit became available with other banks, we helped Regional West with a series of bank private placements to refinance the bonds held by the letter of credit bank, and then to refinance the entire debt again with two permanent bank lenders.

We worked closely with the hospital to ensure each financing was in compliance with the existing Master Trust Indenture, to create parity among all lenders and to avoid an early termination of the existing swap agreements. We also negotiated on behalf of the hospital to meet the programmatic documents required by each lender with a special focus on making sure the documents did not conflict with each other or the Master Trust Indenture.

Alternative Delivery Providers finance capital improvements to enable better access to health care

Alternative Delivery providers (community health centers, mental health centers and critical access hospitals) provide innovative ways of delivering services to medically underserved and indigent populations, as compared to traditional delivery systems.

Finding optimal ways to deliver health care services is a challenge in any market and new approaches have been developed to care for people in rural areas, people with low-incomes, and people from various ethnic backgrounds. Our clients finance capital facilities with tax-exempt bonds, sometimes combined with federal grant monies for capital improvements, primarily to construct outpatient clinics for medical, dental and mental health services.

Critical access hospitals such as Family Health West provide short-term hospitalization and emergency care to people in rural areas so patients do not have to travel long distances to obtain basic services. Most bonds associated with these transactions are purchased by commercial banks. Our extensive experience in municipal finance bank transactions (we were ranked number six nationally in 2014 by Thompson Reuters for bank-qualified transactions) helps us create financing documents that are tailored to the business models represented by these alternative providers.

We have helped these organizations finance numerous projects across the State of Colorado, including acting as bond counsel for the issuance of $9.1 million of tax-exempt bonds for the acquisition of an acute care hospital building by Peak Vista Health Services in Colorado Springs. Our client then renovated the building into an outpatient clinic and administrative offices with part of the bond proceeds. Portions of the building were leased to allied service providers, creating greater efficiencies, but also requiring us to do a more in depth tax analysis.

Our other alternative delivery clients include Plan de Salud del Valle, Metro Community Provider Network, Aurora Mental Health, Arapahoe Douglas Mental Health Center and Family Health West, all in Colorado.

$79 million County of Hamilton, Ohio Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds

We served as underwriter’s counsel to our client, RBC Capital Markets, in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt revenue bonds for UC Health by the County of Hamilton, Ohio. UC Health operates the 726-licensed bed University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the 188-licensed bed West Chester Hospital, the Daniel Drake Center for Post-Acute Care, which is a specialized medical and rehabilitative care hospital, and other related facilities and services.

The proceeds of the bonds were used to (a) finance the acquisition of the 835 parking garage, (b) finance the expansion, upgrade and modernization of the emergency department at University of Cincinnati Medical Center and (c) refund all of the Issuer’s outstanding Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2001C (University Hospital, Inc.). The bonds were secured by an obligation issued under the Master Trust Indenture.

Bond Counsel for senior living organization’s $63.7 million transaction

When Maple Knoll Communities, Inc. decided to refinance its existing debt, it requested we act as bond counsel on the financing. We worked with the Butler County Port Authority to serve as issuer of the bonds, which were issued in three separate series and a $3.1 million taxable loan.

We prepared a new Master Trust Indenture for our client and its affiliates and the Indenture of Trust (Bond Indenture) pursuant to which the Series 2013 Bonds, which included one series of public offered fixed rate bonds and two series of privately-placed variable rate bonds, were issued to refund Maple Knoll’s outstanding bonds, refinance a line of credit and refinance other debt of our client.

We assisted Maple Knoll and the Port through the bond issuance process, performed tax analysis and assisted Maple Knoll in refinancing its existing debt.

$43 million bond restructure provides client with stable debt platform

Our non-profit client, which is long-established and a national destination because of its beautiful Colorado setting, operates programs for children, adults and families in the Rocky Mountains. The client had $43 million in outstanding variable rate demand bonds related to facilities construction. After the stock market melt-down of 2008, the client needed to restructure the bonds to be owned directly by a bank to avoid new market risks, which we assisted with as bond counsel. A few years later, however, the bank wanted major changes to the deal in exchange for extending the period during which it would continue to own the bonds. We were able to draft all the amendments and work the tax challenges to retrofit the new bank requirements into the existing deal documents. The bank extended its commitment to own the bonds which provided a stable platform for our client’s debt structure.

$54.6 million bonds for refunding and debt consolidation for non-profit radio broadcaster

We were bond counsel for the issuance of $54.6 million bonds through the Public Finance Authority for the refunding and consolidation of debt for a non-profit radio broadcast organization. The California-based broadcaster, which has stations throughout the country, specializes in contemporary religious-themed music and non-sectarian educational programming. Our client sought to refinance the costs of the acquisition of 17 FCC licenses for stations located in thirteen states through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds, so we worked to consolidate its debt into one loan, which was privately placed with a consortium of banks. Initially, we closed the loan with a split between tax-exempt and taxable bonds. Over the nine months after closing, we set up local governmental hearings that are federally required in order for the taxable bonds to be converted to tax-exempt and were successful in converting about 65%. Our work enabled the client to successfully consolidate its debt and substantially reduce interest costs.

Amending Master Indenture to meet client’s need for flexibility

Our senior living client wanted flexibility for an important new venture to provide additional services to the elderly, which meant amending certain financial covenant in the existing master trust indenture related to approximately $130,000,000 in outstanding bonds. The amendments required the consent of at least a majority of all the holders who had to be contacted through the Depository Trust Company procedures. Issuers seldom undertake this type of project because of the difficulties in obtaining bondholder consent, but the new venture was of the highest importance to the client and we were asked to move forward. It took over eight months to draft the amendment and the solicitation materials, work on the tax implications and assist with advice on the DTC solicitation process while the holders were being contacted. In the end, we were able to help the client to be in position to put their new business venture into place.

$7,280,000 Colorado Health Facilities Authority Refunding Senior Living Revenue Bonds (Eaton Senior Communities Project), Series 2014

$8,000,000 Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority Revenue Bonds, Series 2014 (YMCA of Metropolitan Denver Project)

$8,000,000 Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority Revenue Bond (St. Mary’s Academy Project), Series 2014

$8,000,000 Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority Revenue Bond (St. Mary’s Academy Project), Series 2014

$8,135,000 Boulder County, Colorado Revenue Bond (Boulder Mental Health Partners Project), Series 2014

$23,000,000 Colorado Health Facilities Authority Revenue Bond, Series 2014A (Bethesda Foundation Project) and $21,000,000 Colorado Health Facilities Authority Revenue Bond, Series 2014B (Bethesda Foundation Project)

$49,855,000 California Statewide Communities Development Authority Revenue Bonds (California Baptist University), Series 2014A and $5,855,000 California Statewide Communities Development Authority Revenue Bonds (California Baptist University), Series 2014

$16,660,000 Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority Revenue Bonds (Regis Jesuit High School Project), Series 2013

$10,000,000 California Municipal Finance Authority Educational Facilities Revenue Bonds (St. Francis High School Project), Series 2013