By MAC Financial Analyst Nick Ibanez

f ee llcCormick, President of

-l-./Community DevelopmentAssociates, LLC, opened this

interesting session with comments

on the changing criteria forinvestors. He said, "Marketing to

your investors is paramount to suc-

cess in today's matket." It is

important to keep up with the

changing criteria. Today private

placements are fewer and have

much smaller par amounts. Retail

buyers are still very active so that

makes it attractive for underwriters

who have retail access. There has

been a big change in the last six

months. There are very little direct

purchases being made in the mar-

ket. Commercial banks are in a

defensive mode right now and there

is a limited access to Letters ofCredit (LOC). He stated the impor-

tance of adding flexibility to the

pricing schedule.

Mr. McCormick shed some light

on some positives and what we

should keep in mind during this

time. The good news is that bond

allocation is generally available

across the nation. There are new

stimulus and economic recovery

programs coming. Companies withhigh investment grade ratings are

well received. Weekly floaters are

at incredible rates. Finally, the

credit markets are slowly recover-

ing. This final piece of good news

point of view. He presented the buy

side approach. He informed us ofthe importance of getting credit

work out there as quickly as possi-

ble. Timing is everything, so pick-ing the "good" week is imporlant.

Mr. Phillips is an institutionalbuyer, but he says he has a retail

structure. Retail buyers historical-

ly, have been the most consistent

buyers. Traditionally, retail has had

a 2-10 year investment period but

now it has extended to 15-20 years.

"Flexibility of financing is crucial!"

Peter Stare, First Southwest

Company Head Underwriter,moderated and introduced the

panel. In the Q&A session he hitthe key points of each of the pan-

elists and commented that he sees

takedowns having to become widerto gain attention ofretail and insti-

tutional buyers.

How to Sell Bonds In Today'sChallenging Times

is also bad news due to the spreads

between tax exempt bonds and tax-

able bonds being so significant.

John Stoecker, FinancialAdvisor with CaliforniaMunicipal Finance Authority,spoke about the advantages ofworking with the Federal Home

Loan Bank (FHLB). He noted that

it can be very difficult to obtain aLOC. The FHLB increases the

number of banks abie to issue

LOCs, and LOCs of FHLB canytheir AAA rating. This creditenhancement through the FHLB is

beneficial due to the great pricing

that would not be possible other-

wise. He shared his experience ofworking with the FHLB and said itwas an easy process and was quite

surprised at how smooth it was.

Devin Phillips, ManagingMember with Hayman MuniciPalStrategies, spoke from a different

How to Sell Bonds Panel (L to R) Peter Stare, Head Underw'riter First Southwe,st

Company; Lee McCormick, President, Cc.tntmunity Development Associates, LLC;John Stoecker Financial Advisor California Municipal Finance AuthoriQ; Devin

Phillips, Managing Member, Hayman Municipal Strategies.

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