Colorado State University System completes sale of $239 million in bonds

DENVER — The Colorado State University System has secured more than $239 million in financing from investors for construction of a new stadium on CSU’s main campus in Fort Collins. The university will break ground on the project this summer.

Bonds for the new stadium sold in less than 90 minutes on Thursday, March 19, and certain series of bonds within the package were as much as three times oversubscribed. The total bond package delivered a true interest rate of 3.57 percent.

“This was a successful bond sale for the CSU System, and the stable and strong financial position of the university meant we were able to access the capital markets at historically low interest rates, ultimately saving the institution millions of dollars,” said Richard Schweigert, chief financial officer of the CSU System. “The CSU System continues to be well positioned financially to complete the strategic infrastructure improvements that are required to support growth on the Fort Collins campus.”

Of the $239 million in bonds, $220 million is for construction funds and the remainder consists of capitalized interest to support payments on the bonds while the facility is constructed and revenues from its operations are not yet available.

In recent weeks, both Standard and Poor’s Rating Service and Moody’s Investor’s Service affirmed the financial strength of the CSU System by maintaining the system’s underlying bond ratings. Moody’s upheld the System’s “Aa3” rating, and S&P continued its “A+” rating for CSU System debt. CSU also maintained an S&P rating of “AA-“ and a Moody’s rating of “Aa2” for bonds issued with the backing of the Colorado State Intercept Program. CSU did not use state intercept-backed bonds for the stadium project.

Later this year, CSU is planning to issue an additional round of bonds totaling approximately $160 million for the construction of a new medical center, a biology building, a parking structure, a parking lot and the relocation of the Plant Environmental Research Center.  

ABOUT THE CSU SYSTEM
The Board of Governors of the CSU System has nine voting members, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate, and six non-voting members who are faculty and student representatives from CSU, CSU-Pueblo and the CSU-Global Campus. The board provides oversight to ensure effective management, accountability and leadership at all the CSU System universities. More information: www.csusystem.edu.

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