Transaction Details

City of Rockford

Municipal

Lead Bookrunner

On June 9, 2025, Baird served as sole underwriter on the negotiated sale of the City of Rockford’s $12,920,000 General Obligation Bonds (Sales Tax Alternate Revenue Source), Series 2025 which carried an “A3” Moody’s rating and carried “AA” rated bond insurance through Build America Mutual. Baird Implemented a 2-day marketing strategy to give investors ample time to review the credit in a fluctuating market environment. We also implemented a one-hour order period instead of the typical 90-minute order period to minimize volatility and to protect the City from market risk given the everchanging news out of Washington. As a result of our marketing efforts, Baird received $32,865,000 in orders (2.5x the par amount) with oversubscriptions in the final two maturities by up to 7.8x. Because of the oversubscriptions, Baird was able to tighten (lower) interest rates in 2042 by 3 basis points (0.03%) and in 2044 by 10 basis points (0.10%). These price adjustments lowered the District’s borrowing cost by $44,500 or 3 basis points (0.03%). The transaction had a true interest cost of 4.64% over the 20-year term. The Bonds generated $13 million in proceeds to fund two legal settlements brought against the City.