Request for Expression of Interest for Bank Facilities (Water System Revenue)
Summary
- Total Loan Amount
- $65,000,000
- Service Type
- Banking Services
- Bids Due
- 05/16/2024 at 3:00 PM CT
- Sector
- Water / Sewer
- State
- Illinois
- Listing Date
- 04/25/2024
- Deadline for Questions
- 05/02/2024 at 12:00 PM CT
- Award Date
- 05/23/2024
Project Description
The City of Chicago (the “City”) is seeking Expressions of Interest for the provision of Direct Pay Letters of Credit, Lines of Credit, or other facilities (each, a “Facility”) from highly rated credit and liquidity providers to support certain aspects of its short-term borrowing program. The Direct Pay Letters of Credit would provide credit and liquidity support for certain Bonds and/or Commercial Paper Notes (“CP Notes”) of the City, both as described below. The Lines of Credit (each, a “Line”) would provide liquidity support to the City as described below. Both current and new Facility providers are encouraged to participate. The City reserves the right to extend or renew its existing facilities and is not obligated to execute a new Facility with any respondent to this REI.
Please see the attached REI for more information about the below programs for which the City is seeking Direct Pay Letters of Credit/Lines of Credit/Alternatives.
- GENERAL OBLIGATION
Under its GO short-term borrowing program (the “GO Program”), the City may issue GO CP Notes and/or borrow under GO Lines. Both the GO CP Notes and the GO Lines are general obligations of the City but do not have a specific property tax levy in place for their repayment. The authorizing ordinance for the GO Program allows for GO CP Notes and/or GO Lines in a maximum aggregate principal amount of $1.0 billion.
The City has two GO Lines outstanding, as set-forth in the table below. The City is seeking proposals for the provision of (i) Direct Pay Letters of Credit to support GO CP Notes and/or (ii) GO Lines with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $500 million.
The City may elect to use a combination of products and reserves the right to adjust the amount of credit capacity. For any product, the City is requesting both tax-exempt and taxable bids. If your pricing for any product depends on size, please indicate proposed ranges of credit capacity with rates for each range.
- MIDWAY GENERAL AIRPORT REVENUE
CP Notes
The authorizing ordinance for the Midway CP Notes and Lines allows for a maximum aggregate principal amount of $250 million. The City has a Midway Letter of Credit that expires June 21, 2024, with a current maximum borrowing capacity amount of $100 million.
The City is seeking proposals for the provision of (i) Direct Pay Letters of Credit to support Midway CP Notes and/or (ii) Midway Line of Credit. For any product, the City is requesting both tax-exempt and taxable bids. If your pricing for any product depends on size, please indicate proposed ranges of credit capacity with rates for each range. The City may elect to use a combination of each product and reserves the right to adjust the amount of credit capacity.
- O’HARE GENERAL AIRPORT REVENUE
The authorizing ordinances for the O'Hare CP Notes and Lines allows for a maximum aggregate principal amount of $1.0 billion. The City has two O’Hare Lines of Credit outstanding, as set-forth in the table below. The City is seeking proposals for the provision of (i) Direct Pay Letters of Credit to support O’Hare CP Notes and/or (ii) O’Hare Lines of Credit and/or (iii) alternative vehicles with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $600 million.
The City may elect to use a combination of products and reserves the right to adjust the amount of credit capacity. For any product, the City is requesting both tax-exempt and taxable bids. If your pricing for any product depends on size, please indicate proposed ranges of credit capacity with rates for each range.
- WATER SYSTEM REVENUE
Under its Water System short-term borrowing program, the City may issue Water System CP Notes and/or borrow under Lines. Both Water System CP Notes and Lines are payable from net revenues in the Water Fund and are subordinate to the City’s Second Lien Water Revenue Bonds. The authorizing ordinance allows for Water System CP Notes and/or Lines in a maximum aggregate principal amount of $200 million.
There are no amounts currently outstanding under any Water System CP Notes or Lines. The City is seeking proposals for the provision of a Water System Line in an anticipated amount of $65 million pursuant to a Water Supply Agreement between the City and the City of Joliet.
The City may elect to use a combination of products and reserves the right to adjust the amount of credit capacity. The City is requesting tax-exempt bids.
Submission Requirements
For a complete list of proposal requirements, please see the below REI.
Proposal Requirements:
a. Please provide a cover letter summarizing your proposal.
b. Please provide a list of your firm’s experience with providing various short-term facilities and general credit to the City and its sister agencies within the last five years.
c. Please provide a description of your firm’s capital position.
d. Please provide a response for each Facility in the format provided in Exhibits 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A (as applicable). Also, please provide a detailed Term Sheet with your response as shown in Exhibits 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B and 5 (as applicable). It is not necessary for respondents to fill out every exhibit, and respondents should feel free to alter the Exhibits as necessary in the interest of providing a greater level of detail or additional pricing optionality. To this end, the Exhibits are also available in Excel format at https://cityofchicagoinvestors.com or upon request.
e. Interested parties must indicate when they would expect to receive final credit approval.
f. Questions e-mailed by respondents and any additional information that the City provides in response to such questions may be distributed to all of the solicited firms without reference to firm.
g. Please submit your proposals in a PDF and/or Excel format via e-mail by 3:00 PM, CDT on Thursday, May 16, 2024 to contacts as listed above. The subject title should read, “2024 REI- Submission - [insert firm name].”
h. A form of the Direct Pay Letter of Credit or Line of Credit documents to be entered into by the City and the selected respondent must be made available to the City within five business days upon notice to the respondent from the City.
i. If selected, your firm will be expected to complete an Economic Disclosure Statement (EDS) on a per deal basis. A copy of the EDS can be found on the City’s Finance Department website:
https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dps/provdrs/comp/svcs/economic_disclosurestateme
Please ensure your firm is comfortable completing the EDS prior to submitting your response to this REI.
j. Any expenses relating to your proposal will not be the responsibility of the City or any of its counsel or advisors. The City reserves the right to waive any irregularity in any proposal, negotiate with one or more firms and to reject any or all proposals. The City reserves the right not to proceed with the execution of any Facility.