Public Finance Expertise
Our Public Finance team works with both large and small public and private entities to create custom financial plans, manage debt and access funding via the public market or alternative sources to meet their long-term financial goals.
Discover the Baird Difference
When choosing a financial partner to help chart your organization’s future, you want someone with a deep understanding of the bond market and all your potential financing options. But just as important is someone who understands you – the obstacles you face and where you want to be today and years down the road.
For more than 100 years, we’ve been helping schools, municipalities, counties, special districts, states and other publicly-funded entities secure their financial future. Whether we’re exploring bond issuance or refinancing, addressing cash flow concerns or presenting to your board or broader community, you can rely on Baird to be a trusted financial partner who’s personally invested in your success.
K–12 and Independent School Districts
Baird’s commitment to K–12 and independent school districts is backed by our extensive experience and capabilities. Our school banking professionals include former CFOs, superintendents and business managers, each applying more than 20 years of school business expertise on behalf of their clients. With a focus on long-term partnerships rather than short-term fixes, Baird addresses your district’s unique needs through such financing solutions as debt management, capital finance planning, board and community financing presentations, bond election assistance, credit rating assistance, alternative structuring solutions, private placements, lease purchase financings, public debt issuance and monitoring, and continuing disclosure assistance.
Municipalities and Counties
With some of the most qualified and experienced bankers in the industry, Baird provides ongoing guidance, resources and solutions to meet the financial challenges facing your community. Whether it’s analyzing your capital finance plan, assessing Tax Incremental District financing, funding a capital project, taking advantage of refinancing opportunities or addressing your unique debt scenarios, we combine a thorough understanding of your municipality’s needs with the firm’s full range of advisory and underwriting services to create thoughtful solutions that are right for you.
And at Baird, we’re committed to supporting you beyond the initial transaction, and take pride in creating with you a long-term financing plan that works.
For more information, contact:
Charter School Finance
Charter school financing is a specialized financing sector and the Baird Charter School Finance group has been at the forefront of structuring financings for charter schools since 2003. As a national leader in charter school financing, we have considerable experience assessing a school’s financing needs and accessing a variety of financing sources to provide appropriate solutions. Typical projects include:
- Construction and renovation
- Furniture, fixtures, and equipment
- Land and facility acquisition
- Leasehold improvements
- Project development costs
- Refinancing of prior debt
- Technology
Special Districts
Special districts provide specialized services unique to the communities they serve. Encompassing multiple local government entities, these districts require focused expertise and long-term partners that understand the nuances within the services they provide. Baird brings over a century of combined experience to various types of special districts including:
- Municipal utility districts
- Harbors and ports
- Park and recreation districts
- Fire protection districts
- Irrigation districts
- Library districts
- Municipal authorities such as water and sewer, utility, sanitation, electric power and gas
Baird’s special district team includes a regionally recognized Texas Special District team with a century of combined experience. This team focuses on helping land developers, architects and other special district professionals build up Texas’ communities.
Learn more about our Texas Special District Team
In addition to our Texas Special District team, Baird has several other bankers scattered across the country that also serve special districts in various roles bringing proven expertise to execute limited and unlimited general obligation and revenue bonds, COPs, direct loans, bank placements and other alternative revenue financing.
For more information, contact:
Higher Education
Colleges and universities face unique and often complex funding challenges. Baird’s Higher Education Public Finance team creates solutions to meet these various capital financing obligations through our robust higher education banking experience, credit insight, quantitative expertise and strong retail and institutional distribution network that reaches all tiers of investors.
Experience
Baird has served various public and private higher education institutions across the country. Some of these institutions that have benefited from our expertise and relationships include:
For more information, contact:
Healthcare & Senior Living
Baird’s Healthcare and Senior Living Public Finance team has more than 40 years of experience creating cost-effective solutions for healthcare facility financing and debt management projects nationwide. Our integrated platform serves critical access and midsize hospitals, large healthcare systems and senior living facilities through dedicated, specialized teams.
Experience
As experts in our field, we understand the multiple challenges and risks in the Healthcare and Senior Living sector. Focusing on long-term solutions that meet our clients’ needs, we leverage our experience and depth of resources in creating successful financing solutions such as debt restructuring, refinancing and capital project development and funding. Utilizing our strong retail and institutional marketing and distribution platform and broad firm capabilities in the Healthcare and Senior Living industry, we have the resources to serve as a partner for your system or organization.
Services
We take a collaborative approach with your administrative team in creating customized financing options that improve your bottom line. Our services include:
- Debt financing analysis and modeling
- Interest rate risk assessment
- Innovative credit rating comparison modeling
- Development and execution of funding solutions using:
- Rated and nonrated tax-exempt and taxable bonds
- Private placements and direct loans
- Credit enhancements
- Government agency enhancements
For more information, contact:
Transportation
Baird Public Finance’s highly experienced bankers have been serving Transportation issuers nationwide for more than 30 years. Our long-standing relationships with authorities, agencies and states around the country allow us to bring major advantages to the market:
- Broad experience with a variety of highway and transportation programs and covenant requirements
- A robust Sales & Trading platform that markets and distributes to both retail and Tier 1, 2 and 3 institutional investors across the country
Experience
Below are select mass transit systems, highway programs, airports, toll authorities and State Departments of Transportation all over the country, that have benefited from working with Baird:
Port Authorities
Toll Roads
Airports
Departments of
Transportation
Mass Transit
For more information, contact:
Pension Obligation
State and local governments across the country are facing underfunded pension plans and increasing annual pension costs. Baird has a qualified and experienced team of professionals that are well versed in developing alternative funding solutions for unfunded pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities. This includes the issuance of Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs) to pay off all or a portion of the unfunded liability. POBs may be cost-effective when the interest rate on the bonds is less than the actuarial rate on the unfunded liability. There are potential benefits and risks associated with POBs that must be evaluated thoroughly.
Experience
Baird’s banking team has provided a wide-range of local and state governments analysis and recommendations related to pension and other post-employment benefits. Focusing on long-term solutions that meet our clients’ needs, we leverage our experience and depth of resources in creating successful financing solutions.
Services
- Model unfunded pension liability amortization payments;
- Estimate potential savings;
- Explore structuring alternatives;
- Conduct sensitivity analysis;
- Explain potential benefits and associated risks, including risk mitigation strategies; and
- Educate Councils/ Boards and the general public on pension bonds.
For more information, contact:
Learn more about Illinois specific POB benefits and risks
Federal Lease
Baird's dedicated Federal Lease bankers have designed and executed innovative financing structures to enable developers and owners of mission critical facilities to leverage long-term leases from the federal government into lower costs of capital. The financing structures monetize the essential and long-term enterprise value of the facility beyond the initial lease term.
Our experienced professionals have executed approximately $2 billion of bond issues, the proceeds of which were used to acquire, recapitalize, and develop Level IV secure facilities, outpatient VA surgical centers and multi-specialty group clinics, and other essential facilities that the federal government is expected to occupy for decades. Our professionals have worked with rating agencies and investors to secure the participation of 100 different large investors in the program.
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