FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On August 26, 2014, the State of Texas successfully hosted its annual Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRAN) sale with Grant Street Group. During an hour-long auction on a platform designed by Grant Street Group (www.TRANTexas.com), the State sold its $5.4 Billion TRAN and secured its lowest interest rate ever for the one-year notes: 0.1326%.
Competition was fierce during the auction, where 13 bidders submitted a total of 62 bids. When the auction concluded, 11 bidders were “in the money” and were awarded a portion of the notes offered for sale. The winning firms included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, U.S. Bancorp Investments, and Wells Fargo Bank.
“The best ratings from Wall Street ratings firms and strong demand for Texas notes helped drive down the borrowing cost,” said Texas Comptroller Susan Combs. “Buyers bid about $19.6 billion, more than triple the amount offered for sale. The competitive bids for today’s sale show that investors are very confident in the Texas economy and the direction it’s heading.”
“This is the 11th annual TRAN sale Grant Street Group has hosted for the Comptroller’s office. Since 2004, the State has successfully auctioned over $74.7 Billion in TRANs alone using Grant Street’s patented auction platform,” said John Carver, Director of Auction Administration.
The Comptroller’s office also uses another custom Grant Street platform (www.BidTX.com) for sales of certificates of deposit.