August 7, 2020 – New York City announced results of its recent procurement process this morning – selecting underwriting firms that will serve multi-year engagements to underwrite City (General Obligation), Transitional Finance Authority personal income tax-backed bonds and Water/Sewer bonds.

At first glance, Bank of America, Citi and Ramirez – a minority firm – performed well – chosen to “senior manage” the City’s two primary credits – the GO and TFA – while also being in a smaller group of underwriters that will exclusively underwrite the next few refunding transactions. Two other minority firms – Siebert Williams and Loop Capital – were selected to underwrite GO, TFA and Water Bonds assignments.

The notable surprise was Charlotte-based Wells Fargo, selected to be a GO/TFA senior manager even as the bank remained in the cross-hairs of regulators and operating under a Federal Reserve-imposed asset cap. New York City’s investment banking giants – Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – were not selected to senior manager City bonds, although Goldman was selected to “compete” for a future Water Bond transaction.

The official press release named the core City underwriters as follows:

The Book-Running Senior Managers selected to underwrite the GO and TFA new money transactions, in alphabetical order, are: BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Jefferies LLC, Loop Capital Markets LLC, Ramirez & Co., Inc., RBC Capital Markets, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC and Wells Fargo Securities. Book-Running Senior Managers for specific transactions will be assigned prior to the announcement of each transaction.

The city selected more minority firms on today’s selection, relative to the previous selection, saying:

The appointments made today reflect the strong performance of minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), which will now comprise 33% of GO and TFA’s Book-Running Senior Managers and 40% of NYW’s Book-Running Senior Managers.  This represents an increase from the previous selection process in 2016, where 30% of GO/TFA Book-Running Senior Managers and 33% of NYW Book-Running Senior Managers were MWBE. In addition, based on today’s appointments, 32% of GO/TFA and NYW underwriting syndicate members are MWBE.

Contact Karen Bigelow at KBigelow@buymuni.com.