Bangkok--9 Nov--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its 'AA+' rating, with a stable outlook, to Regional Transportation District (RTD), Colo.'s tax-exempt sales tax revenue bonds (FasTracks Project) series 2010A and taxable sales tax revenue bonds (FasTracks Project) (direct pay Build America Bonds) series 2010B, and affirmed its 'AA+' rating on RTD's $589.9 million parity bonds outstanding (secured by a first lien on a 0.4% sales tax, as well as a junior lien on a separate 0.6% sales tax, after the payment of existing 0.6% tax-secured debt).
At the same time, Standard & Poor's affirmed its 'AAA' underlying rating (SPUR) on RTD's parity $261.1 million first-lien sales tax debt outstanding (secured by the 0.6% sales tax).
RTD has also issued separately secured lease revenue bonds, without a specific sales tax pledge, and unrated third-lien sales tax-secured bonds for the Denver Transit Partners Eagle P3 project.
"The ratings reflect our opinion of the district's very large and diverse service area, which accounts for more than half of the state's population," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst David Hitchcock. Also supporting the ratings are what we view as extremely strong 6.29x coverage of maximum annual debt service (MADS) for the senior-lien 0.6% sales tax bonds; very strong 3.76x coverage of MADS on combined FasTracks and prior lien 0.6% secured debt, by combined first-lien 0.4% sales tax and second lien 0.6% sales tax; and a strong 2x senior-lien additional bonds test (ABT) on the FasTracks bonds, and a closed lien on the 0.6% sales tax-secured revenue debt, except for refunding bonds.
The stable outlook on the 0.6% secured sales tax bond rating reflects the closed lien--which prohibits additional parity bonds except for refunding bonds--coupled with very high debt service coverage and growth in the service area. The stable rating outlook on the 0.4% sales tax-secured FasTracks bonds reflects our view of the large and diverse economic base generating the pledged tax; good coverage of debt service by the first-lien 0.4% tax pledge and very strong coverage by first- and second-lien pledged taxes combined; and a strong ABT, protecting coverage against large expected new debt issuances in the future.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
USPF Criteria: Special Tax Bonds, June 13, 2007
Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers on the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com and RatingsDirect subscribers at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column.
Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095,
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
David G Hitchcock, New York (1) 212-438-2022
Matthew Reining, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5044