ֳ

Rating Action Commentary

ֳ Takes Various Rating Actions on U.S. Enhanced Municipal Bonds and TOBs

Wed 20 Dec, 2017 - 1:34 PM ET

ֳ-New York-20 December 2017: ֳ has taken various conforming rating actions on enhanced U.S. municipal bonds and tender option bonds (TOBs) corresponding to actions taken on their associated enhancement providers or underlying bonds.

Long-term ratings on enhanced municipal bonds may be higher than those of their enhancement providers as discussed in ֳ's 'U.S. Public Finance Letter of Credit-Supported Bonds and Commercial Paper Rating Criteria', dated Feb. 27, 2017.

Short-term ratings on enhanced municipal bonds may be lower than those of their liquidity providers, as discussed in ֳ's 'Rating Guidelines for Variable-Rate Demand Obligations and Commercial Paper Issued with External Liquidity Support', dated Jan. 17, 2017.

Long-term ratings assigned to TOBs are the higher of the ratings assigned by ֳ to the applicable enhancement providers supporting the bonds and the ratings assigned by ֳ to the underlying bonds deposited in the issuing trust. Short-term ratings on TOBs, if assigned, are based on ratings assigned by ֳ to their liquidity providers, with consideration given to the TOBs' long-term ratings.

Please see the corresponding spreadsheet for a full list of rating actions.


Contact:

Primary Analyst
Jeff Schaub
Managing Director
+1-212-908-0680
ֳ, Inc.
33 Whitehall Street
New York, NY 10004

Secondary Analyst
Maria Coritsidis
Director
+1-212-908-0514


Media Relations: Sandro Scenga, New York, Tel: +1 212-908-0278, Email: sandro.scenga@fitchratings.com.

Additional information is available on

Related Research
ֳ Takes Various Rating Actions on U.S. Enhanced Municipal Bonds and TOBs

Additional Disclosures
Solicitation Status
Endorsement Policy


ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: /UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT . PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS RELEVANT INTERESTS ARE AVAILABLE AT /SITE/REGULATORY. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.
Copyright © 2017 by ֳ, Inc., ֳ Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), ֳ relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources ֳ believes to be credible. ֳ conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of ֳ’s factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of ֳ’s ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information ֳ relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to ֳ and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, ֳ must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed.
The information in this report is provided “as is” without any representation or warranty of any kind, and ֳ does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A ֳ rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by ֳ are based on established criteria and methodologies that ֳ is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of ֳ and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. ֳ is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All ֳ reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a ֳ report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a ֳ rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of ֳ. ֳ does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. ֳ receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, ֳ will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by ֳ shall not constitute a consent by ֳ to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, ֳ research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers.
For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: ֳ Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by ֳ is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001
ֳ, Inc. is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (the "NRSRO"). While certain of the NRSRO’s credit rating subsidiaries are listed on Item 3 of Form NRSRO and as such are authorized to issue credit ratings on behalf of the NRSRO (see /SITE/REGULATORY. other credit rating subsidiaries are not listed on Form NRSRO (the "non-NRSROs") and therefore credit ratings issued by those subsidiaries are not issued on behalf of the NRSRO. However, non-NRSRO personnel may participate in determining credit ratings issued by or on behalf of the NRSRO.

PARTICIPATION STATUS

The rated entity (and/or its agents) or, in the case of structured finance, one or more of the transaction parties participated in the rating process except that the following issuer(s), if any, did not participate in the rating process, or provide additional information, beyond the issuer’s available public disclosure.

Solicitation Status

The ratings above were solicited and assigned or maintained at the request of the rated entity/issuer or a related third party. Any exceptions follow below.

ENDORSEMENT POLICY

ֳ's approach to ratings endorsement so that ratings produced outside the EU may be used by regulated entities within the EU for regulatory purposes, pursuant to the terms of the EU Regulation with respect to credit rating agencies, can be found on the EU Regulatory Disclosures page. The endorsement status of all International ratings is provided within the entity summary page for each rated entity and in the transaction detail pages for all structured finance transactions on the ֳ website. These disclosures are updated on a daily basis.