PROCESS AND ARCHITECTURE FOR STRUCTURING FACILITIES REVENUE BOND FINANCINGS
A process and architecture may be implemented to structure ESFRB financing or refinancing for Municipal Facilities operation, construction and/or renovation to improve economic and business terms for involved or interested parties, including without limitation, a Municipal Entity which owns, for example, water/sewer facilities, airports, seaports, bus and train transit systems, toll roads and bridges, parking lots and/or energy plants.
This application hereby claims priority to and is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/753,264 filed Apr. 2, 2010, which is a Continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/681,166 filed Mar. 1, 2007 which is a Continuation-in-part of PCT/US06/31358, filed Aug. 11, 2006 which is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/202,194, filed Aug. 12, 2005, all entitled “Process And Architecture For Structuring Facilities Revenue Bond Financings.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention generally relates to financing structures/architectures associated with municipal bond financing methods that may improve ratings on municipal bonds issued in connection with the construction or renovation of consistently high demand, high revenue-producing municipal assets such as, for example, energy plants, water and sewer facilities, toll roads, bridges, bus and train systems, parking lots and garages, parking meters, airport passenger terminals and seaports (herein, a “Municipal Facility” or “Municipal Facilities”) and thereby increase the cost effectiveness of any financing of such Municipal Facilities.
Conventionally, in facilities revenue bond financings, bonds issued to finance the construction or renovation of Municipal Facilities have been supported by the credit of the consolidated balance sheet of a municipality, joint powers authority or other municipally-created entity having jurisdiction or oversight over such Municipal Facilities (herein, a “Municipal Entity”). Such bonds are referred to as Consolidated Balance Sheet Municipal Bonds or “CBSMBs”. Sometimes the Municipal Entity whose consolidated balance sheet is evaluated to determine the credit rating on debt issued to finance specific Municipal Facilities may be far less creditworthy than the Municipal Facilities themselves on a stand-alone basis, or the Municipal Entity may be unable to timely repay various debt obligations due to economic problems, or the Municipal Entity may even have filed for bankruptcy protection. Rather than being forced to sell such stand-alone, strong revenue producing Municipal Facilities to one or more private companies to obtain much needed cash, the Municipal Entity may elect to use the technique described herein to raise capital without an outright sale of such Municipal Facilities to the private sector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, a financing process and architecture may be implemented to initially structure or restructure revenue bond financings for Municipal Facilities. This process and architecture may be used for the construction and/or renovation and/or ongoing operation and maintenance of a specific Municipal Facility in a manner which can substantially improve the credit rating assigned to any such bond financing and thereby improve the economic and legal terms of such bond financing to the benefit of all interested parties, including taxpayers and the municipalities that serve them. A municipal facility may include, but not limited to, an airport, water, sewer or any other suitable operating entity.
Although various invention embodiments are disclosed herein in the context of the financing or refinancing of Municipal Facilities, it should be understood that the invention may be implemented in connection with the financing or refinancing of all manner of high demand, consistently high revenue-producing municipally owned assets through the issuance of enhanced special facility revenue bonds (“ESFRBs”) for any such facility for public and/or multiple private user benefit. The issuance of the ESFRBs described herein is an alternative, novel approach and may be used instead of issuing CBSMBs, which may not be practical or cost-effective. Invention embodiments may be implemented in connection with the financing or refinancing of all manner of Municipal Facilities, whether formerly or currently publicly or privately owned, where municipal facilities include, but not limited to, airport, water treatment facility, sewer, etc. Thus, it should be understood that utility is provided by invention embodiments in any business scenario wherein single or multiple municipally owned or supported facilities are constructed or renovated for use by the public and/or multiple private entities using funds obtained through the issuance of taxable or tax-exempt municipal bonds or other evidences of indebtedness and are financed based solely on the legal structure, demand for use and predictable future revenue streams generated by such Municipal Facilities.
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, the inventive concept may be implemented to complete new or restructured financings of Municipal Facilities in order to avoid, or to partially or fully remedy, problems associated with the low or declining credit ratings of the Municipal Entities that own or operate them. In that particular implementation, rather than the issuance of CBSMBs, in which the financing for a Municipal Facility is supported in whole or in part by the consolidated balance sheets of one or more sponsoring Municipal Entities, the process and architecture of ESFRBs would instead be used to improve the credit rating of the municipal financing and thereby lower debt service costs for taxpayers and the municipalities that serve them. In such an implementation, the process and architecture may apply both to new financings of Municipal Facilities as well as refinancings of existing Municipal Facilities financings, and may be implemented to assist in insulating any Municipal Facilities financing from a bankruptcy of the Municipal Entities which own the relevant Municipal Facilities and/or the primary operators and users thereof. Such implementation of this process and architecture may allow such Municipal Entities to raise much needed cash, but at the same time avoid an outright “fire-sale” of such Municipal Facilities to the private sector.
A key to the success of any such financing or refinancing situation, is that the revenue-producing potential of a Municipal Facility should be well recognized. If there is sufficient potential demand for the services or improvements furnished by such Municipal Facility to the public and/or multiple private users, such demonstrable demand and the resulting predictable future cash flow, together with use of the legal structure described herein, may together provide a better credit than that of the consolidated balance sheet of the relevant Municipal Entity. In such instances, third party credit, equity support from private sources and the use of asset-backed financing techniques may be applied to finance or refinance the Municipal Facility on an underlying basis that is supported only by the demonstrable high demand for use of the services or improvements of the Municipal Facility and the predictable future revenues to be derived from such use, as evidenced by subscriptions, contracts with towns, counties and states, leases, contingent leases and “waiting lists” and, critically, by the credit of a single-purpose business entity, which may be a statutory trust or limited liability company, that is designed to meet published rating agency criteria for bankruptcy remoteness (such a single-purpose business entity being referred to herein as an “SPE”). This SPE would typically lease or otherwise contract with the Municipal Entity for the right to operate the Municipal Facilities, and in turn would sublease such rights in respect of the Municipal Facilities to another operating entity or otherwise contract with third parties for their use. The SPE would have rights to all present and potential revenues of the Municipal Facilities. The SPE would be structured to permit a bond financing that would be remote, or insulated, from the bankruptcy of the Municipal Entity as well as any subtenants or other public or private users of the Municipal Facilities such that the underwriting risks associated with such bond financing would be limited solely to those relating to the financial viability of the Municipal Facilities, thereby allowing ESFRBs to be issued instead of CBSMBs, as has traditionally been done.
This new financing process and architecture is applicable to new Municipal Facilities and also the refinancing, or any private and/or public refunding, or a combination of public and private refunding, of CBSMBs or any other type of outstanding municipal bond issuance with respect to any existing Municipal Facilities.
A conventional “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback” architecture involves a Municipal Entity leasing ground to an operating entity and that entity partially assigning ground lease rights to a separate government agency acting as a bond issuer. The government agency bond issuer issues CBSMBs or other municipal bonds to finance construction or continuing operation of the Municipal Facilities and subleases the partially-assigned ground lease rights and facilities back to such operating company in return for sublease rent on terms sufficient to support repayment of the financing of the arrangement. The sublease is keyed to the maturity of the bonds; the ground lease partial assignment is coterminous with the sublease. Additionally, both the sublease and the partial ground lease assignment terminate on prepayment of such municipal bonds. As a result, the purported Municipal Entity has no residual interest in the financed Municipal Facilities that survives retirement of the bonds.
Recently, various bankruptcy court decisions (see United Airlines, Inc. v. HSBC Bank USA, N.A., No. 04-4209 (7th Cir. Jul. 26, 2005) rev'g HSBC Bank USA v. United Air Lines, Inc., 317 B.R. 335 (N.D. Ill. 2005) (San Francisco International Airport) and In re UAL Corp., 307 B.R. 618 (Bann N.D. 111. 2004) affd in part by United Air Lines, Inc. v. HSBC Bank USA, 322 B.R. 347 (N.D. Ill. 2005) (Denver International Airport) and by The Bank of New York v. United Air Lines, Inc., No. 04-2838 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 16, 2005) (JFK International Airport)) have held that a “package ground lease,” as utilized at the Denver airport, was a true lease whereas “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback” architectures of the type briefly described above were merely disguised debt financings, allowing a user to remain in possession and relegating the bondholders to the status of prepetition creditors in the user's bankruptcy, rather than having the benefit of the more favorable legal position afforded lessors under Section 365 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The two lease “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback model has been declared a disguised financing. On Mar. 7, 2006, the United States Supreme Court denied review of that decision, so all financings so structured will not be upheld as true leases. The Denver-style single lease model was affirmed as a true lease by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Jul. 6, 2006 and United has agreed not to appeal. The effects of these decisions is that the “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback” architecture will not be upheld as a true lease for purposes of Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code in the event of a bankruptcy of a lessee, but the Denver style single lease will be so upheld. This analysis of leases as to whether they are “true leases” extends by analogy to leases by and to Municipal Entities and to Municipal Facilities similarly financed.
This legal deficiency affects both the attractiveness and plausibility of both new single facility revenue bond financings and existing special facility revenue bond financings structured as a ground lease/lease assignment and leaseback, where an existing financing requires a new credit judgment (e.g., on a proposed refinancing of the bonds, or on replacement of an expiring credit support facility). The deficiency may be corrected by amending the leases and subleases involved to meet the criteria for “true leases” enumerated by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
With this business context understood, invention embodiments apply common third party equity or credit support and/or asset-backed financing techniques to issue municipal bonds, or to refinance existing municipal bonds, on a basis supported primarily by the demonstrable future demand and revenues created by the services and improvements furnished by the Municipal Facility and the creditworthiness of an SPE operating the Municipal Facility to be financed as opposed to the credit of the Municipal Entity owner or the ultimate tenants, operators or end users. Thus, in a scenario involving either the “ground lease plus loan” or “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback” architectures, if the revenue-producing potential of the Municipal Facility may provide a superior credit risk than that of the consolidated balance sheet of the Municipal Entity owning it or the private business entities or consumers currently utilizing its services or improvements, common asset-backed financing techniques may be applied in recognition of the inherent value of the real estate and to isolate the strongest and most reliable revenue stream(s) through the use of third party credit and/or private equity, but in all events the creation of an SPE largely insulated from a possible bankruptcy of the Municipal Entity or the public or private primary users or operators of the Municipal Facility.
For affected cash-strapped municipalities, this inventive architecture and its associated creative process could eliminate the need of a Municipal Entity to sell outright or otherwise wholly “privatize” its high revenue-producing assets and, in some circumstances, significantly lower the effective debt service costs associated with any municipal bond financing of the Municipal Facilities. For credit-enhancement providers on existing CBSMBs, this inventive architecture and process could generate restructuring fees and lower or eliminate their exposure to declining credit ratings of sponsoring Municipal Entities, their cash constrained balance sheets and associated potential municipal insolvency issues. For bond underwriters, this architecture and process could provide an opportunity for new transactions and refinancing existing CBSMBs providing meaningful benefits to Municipal Entities owning such self-sustaining, high revenue-producing Municipal Facilities. This architecture and process for issuance of ESFRBs could provide a mechanism to insulate successful operations of Municipal Facilities from credit exposure to the bankruptcy risks associated with the Municipal Entity or any primary users, investors and sponsors.
The use of independent managers and directors of a limited liability company, or a trust similarly designed to meet rating agency criteria for bankruptcy remoteness is a critical element of this inventive architecture and its associated creative process and is employed to substantially reduce associated bankruptcy risks. Similarly, other structures are readily envisioned meeting rating agency requirements, including as described in further detail herein, at least one operating requirement of the SPE that establishes separateness of the SPE from the one or more business entities. These operating requirements may include establishing a board of managers and/or directors that includes at least one independent manager and/or director unrelated to the separate business entities. One embodiment includes having at least two independent managers and/or directors, but it is also envisioned based on rating-agency specific guidelines that the structure may include least one independent manager and/or director.
Additionally, rating-agency specific guidelines may further dictate additional structural requirements to the deal. These structural requirements may be part of the computational generation of a rating for the deal, the rating of the deal dictating a bond rating. Other guidelines may include requirements of a consent of the one or more independent managers and/or directors in order to seek insolvency. This seeking insolvency may include but is not expressly limited to filing of a bankruptcy petition and/or authorizing the filing of a bankruptcy petition, as well as instituting any type of insolvency proceedings. Additional limitations on the SPE, as per rating agency rating factors, can include a prohibition or limitation against the SPE from incurring additional indebtedness other than the related debt. The SPE incurs debt related to the SPE itself, but additional debt can be limited or prohibited. The SPE itself may be any suitable type of business structure, including but not limited to a corporation, a limited liability company, a limited partnership, a statutory trust or any other suitable business entity.
A first example of a potential implementation of the above described embodiments is now provided beginning with
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, the Municipal Entity and/or water/sewer operating company 125 might undertake restructuring transactions as described with reference to
It should be understood that the actions performed in
Moreover, throughout the explanation of various invention embodiments, reference is made to an SPE, which may be, for example, any business entity such as a limited liability company (LLC) or a statutory trust organized in Delaware or in any other jurisdiction that enables favorable treatments for the purposes of bankruptcy and tax, but in each case, must be structured to conform to published SPE criteria as dictated by the major U.S. rating agencies.
To potentially establish a higher credit rating (e.g., investment grade) and, therefore markedly more favorable interest rates, the SPE may not be vulnerable to unrestricted voluntary liquidation or dissolution in the event of a bankruptcy of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity owner/ground lessor or other third party equity holder, or subject to substantive consolidation in a bankruptcy of any of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity, municipal owner/ground lessor or other third party private equity owner. For the former purpose, if the SPE is a limited liability company, its formation documents may provide for a managing board including at least two independent managers which could be appointed by the Municipal Entity, a credit-support provider or other party. They could be appointed by a company typically providing corporate trust services for these types of structures. The SPE formation documents may further provide that the SPE could not take certain actions (for example, to file in bankruptcy or undergo a voluntary liquidation or dissolution, dispose of substantial assets, or to amend its formation documents) without the approving vote of its managers, including the independent managers. Similar safeguards would apply to any such SPE created in the form of a statutory trust.
To avoid substantive consolidation in bankruptcy, the SPE should establish its “separateness” from the Municipal Entity owning the Municipal Facilities, any private or municipal water/sewer operating company or any other third party private equity holder, if any, based on various customary standards that have been set forth by the major rating agencies (e.g., Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings or Standard & Poors Corporation). These standards would be incorporated into the SPE's formation documents, which control its operation—e.g., the SPE will restrict its activities to only those necessary or incidental to its leasehold interests, management and operation of the Municipal Facilities, (whether for itself or as delegated to another party) and not engage in other businesses or activities, the SPE will hold itself out to the public as a legal entity separate and apart from its Municipal Entity owner and/or third party private equity members or trust owners or any other person, having its own assets, liabilities and operations—not constituting a branch or division of any of its members, affiliates or any other person, and not being liable for the debts of any such other person.
Other such provisions dictated by the rating agencies may include the SPE undertaking (e.g., in the formation documents of the SPE) that the SPE will act to (i) segregate its funds, property and other assets from those of any member or any other person and hold them in its own name, and not commingle them with those of any member or any other person; (ii) make any investments solely in its own name; (iii) not form any subsidiaries; (iv) act solely in its legal name in the conduct of its business, and conduct its business so as not to mislead others as to the identity of the entity or assets with which they are concerned; (v) keep and maintain separate records, books of account, bank accounts and financial statements; (vi) ensure that its capitalization is adequate in light of its business and purpose; (vii) not (a) guarantee, become obligated for, or otherwise hold itself out as being liable for, the debts and obligations of any member or any other person; (b) pledge its assets for the benefit of any other person; (c) make loans or advances to any person other than in the ordinary course of its business; and (d) acquire obligations or securities of any member; (viii) not enter into any transaction with any member, except upon terms and conditions that are intrinsically fair and substantially similar to those that would be available on an arms length basis with unrelated third parties. (ix) maintain an arm's-length relationship with its members and any affiliates; (x) allocate fairly and reasonably any overhead including for office space and employees shared with any member; (xi) use its own separate stationery, invoices, checks and other business forms and have its own telephone number, facsimile number and Internet domain; (xii) take commercially reasonable steps to correct any known misunderstanding regarding its separate identity; (xiii) file its own tax returns, if applicable, as may be required under applicable law; (xiv) pay its liabilities out of its own funds, including the salaries of its own employees, if any; and (xv) not engage in any dissolution, liquidation, consolidation, merger or sale of assets.
Further, in order to establish and maintain “separateness” from the applicable Municipal Entity as ground lessor/owner and the SPE's parent entities (water/sewer operating company, third party private equity investors or the Municipal Entity, or other public/private entity), it may be important that any sub-sublease of a portion of the Municipal Facilities from the SPE back to the water/sewer operating company or other users, as well as the ground lease with the Municipal Entity owner of the assets, be on an “arms-length” basis. To avoid “disguised financing treatment,” any such ground leases, leases, subleases and sub-subleases must meet the Seventh Circuit's criteria for a true lease. From an economic standpoint, a primary user of the Municipal Facilities may undertake to make payments on terms sufficient to support the creditworthiness of the arrangement and to permit the conclusion that the ground lease, lease, sublease or sub-sublease are each “true leases” for federal bankruptcy purposes.
Assuming that the facts would support the creditworthiness of the actions illustrated in
Again, it should be understood that the actions performed in
As illustrated in
The strength of the essentiality of services and improvements and the demonstrable demand for the Municipal Facilities is key to this architecture and may be determined using computational means, thereby allowing for the assignment of a credit rating by a credit rating agency. The computation means includes a computer program or computer processing device electronically performing processing operations. One embodiment includes determining computer-generated credit factors associated with the financing. This determination may include the accessing, assembling, processing, collating, or any other suitable data processing/manipulation of available electronic data, such as, for example, demand data available from one or more electronic data repositories, as recognized by one skilled in the art. The computational means may also include electronic delivery of the credit factors determined using the processing or computational machine/device. The electronic delivery can be via any suitable means including data transmission using known or any suitable data transmission technique, but may also include physical delivery, such as data storage on a physical readable medium and the delivery consummated when the data is read from the storage medium. The delivery enables the credit rating agency to assign a credit rating thereto in accordance with known operations and based in significant part on data computed by a data processing program.
In
As a result of such a restructured architecture, there may be a corresponding reduction in the interest charges for which the SPE 485 is responsible, through its Municipal Facilities sublease debt service payments to the issuer 130. Alternatively, if the bonds 140 are supported by a letter of credit, bond insurance or other credit support, this restructured architecture could result in a substantial reduction in the charges of the credit-support provider.
A second example is provided regarding how at least one embodiment of the invention may be used to restructure a conventional “ground lease plus loan” architecture, as described relative to
The Municipal Entity owner/ground lessor enters into a ground lease 525 with a water/sewer operating company. The water/sewer operating company conveys its ground lease position to an SPE, owned in whole or in part by the water/sewer operating company, third party private equity investors and/or the Municipal Entity. In return, the water/sewer operating company 525 takes back a Municipal Facilities lease from the SPE 580 (obligating itself to pay Municipal Facilities lease rent payments 585), with a term equal to the term of the ESFRBs 540. The rent payments to be made by the water/sewer operating company 585 under the Municipal Facilities lease 580 include basic rent and additional rent. Additional rent is the component equal to annual property taxes and other annual charges, and costs as well of any debt service on any ESFRBs and any other payments and profit-sharing.
It is possible that the loan agreement 565 to the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 may be unsecured. Alternatively, the loan obligation of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 to the bond issuer may be secured by a pledge of its Municipal Facilities ground lease 580 interest (e.g., a “leasehold mortgage”). In this architecture, the ground lease interest of the SPE and/or the water/sewer operating company Municipal Facility lease may or may not need to be pledged. The ground lease payments 595 may be fairly modest. In some cases, the ground lease 590 may include a cross-default provision, under which a default of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 under its loan agreement 565 with the Municipal Entity 530 is automatically an event of default under its ground lease 590 even if payments under that loan agreement are current.
In circumstances where this invention and architecture are not used and an SPE is not interposed between the Municipal Entity and the water/sewer operating company, a bankruptcy of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 may result in unacceptable events. In particular, if the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 files in bankruptcy and ceases making payments under loan agreement 565, the bond trustee would be delayed from foreclosing on any leasehold mortgage interest in the Municipal Facilities lease 580 by the “automatic stay” bankruptcy rules. Thus, even though the Municipal Entity 535 would be a secured creditor in airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity's 525 bankruptcy, it would be unable to compel a sale of the Municipal Facilities lease interest to other potential users of the Municipal Facilities 545. The Municipal Entity 535 might eventually receive some restructured monetary amount in settlement of its loan claim, on the resolution of airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity's 525 bankruptcy proceeding; the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity's 525 possessory leasehold interests might then be sold to another public or private company, which might assume such rights on payment of some amounts in respect of unpaid ground lease rents and Municipal Facilities lease rents.
Additionally, if the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity assumes the Municipal Facilities lease and ground lease 580, 590 and continues to make the annual payments 585, 595 required thereunder, there would be no basis on that account for the Municipal Entity 510 to evict the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 and make the Municipal Facilities 545 available to some other solvent party (which could also assume the loan payment obligations 570). Further, it is questionable whether an automatic cross-default provision in the Municipal Facilities lease or the ground lease 580, 590 (if it were triggered by a default under the water/sewer operating company's loan agreement 565 based solely on the water/sewer operating company's bankruptcy) would be enforceable. It may be that the cross-default provision would be a violation of the “ipso facto” rule, and therefore unenforceable, or would be subject to the “automatic stay” provisions of the bankruptcy laws.
If a airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 files in bankruptcy, and stops performing its obligations under the loan agreement 565 (resulting, after the exhaustion of any operating cost or debt service reserves, in a default in payments on the bonds 540 of the Municipal Entity 530), it may, in some instances, at the same time retain its possession and use of the financed Municipal Facilities 545. This would suspend any recovery rights of the bondholders (pending the eventual resolution of the bankruptcy proceedings), and in the meantime block the exercise by the Municipal Entity 510 or the bond trustee 535 of any right to dispossess the water/sewer operating company 525 and make the Municipal Facilities 545 available to other companies that might be willing and able to pay for usage rights to the Municipal Facilities 545 in amounts sufficient to provide for current payments of debt service on the bonds 540.
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention wherein the water/sewer operating company is the equity owner of the SPE as opposed to a third party, airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 might undertake restructuring transactions as described with reference to
The sublease rent from the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity would be on terms sufficient to support the creditworthiness of the arrangement and to permit the conclusion that the sublease is a “true lease” for federal bankruptcy purposes. Subject to the transaction documents and applicable law, the water/sewer operating company and other third party private equity owners of the SPE, if any, would be entitled to periodic distributions of a portion of any surplus revenue from the SPE.
At 625, the formation documents of the SPE, if a limited liability company, would be drafted to include provisions for at least two independent managers (appointed by the bond trustee, a credit support provider, if applicable, or a named neutral party, e.g., a trust company), and would include provisions precluding the SPE from taking certain actions including a voluntary filing in bankruptcy or a dissolution or liquidation, disposing of substantial assets, or amending its formation documents without the affirmative approval of the independent managers. Those formation documents may also include a requirement that the SPE maintain compliance with various customary standard “separateness” and other characteristics promulgated by the major rating agencies from time to time. Similar restrictions would be included in the trust agreement if the SPE is a Delaware statutory trust.
Again, it should be understood that the actions performed in
As illustrated in
The sublease rent payments 760 from airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 plus any revenues derived by the SPE 705 with respect to the Municipal Facilities 545 from other sources include amounts sufficient, in the aggregate, to cover the SPE's cost of operation of the Municipal Facilities, including any administrative expenses, the SPE's continuing obligations under the ground lease 790 and Municipal Facilities lease 780 and the SPE's assumed obligations under the loan agreement 765. The SPE may pledge 715 all of its rights and revenues under this sublease is to secure its obligations under the loan agreement 565 (and the SPE's obligations to the credit support provider, if applicable) by conveying a leasehold mortgage to the trustee for the holders of the ESFRBs.
The formation documents of the SPE 705, if it is a limited liability company, may include provisions for at least two independent managers as required by the major rating agencies (appointed by, e.g., the host airport, the bond trustee, a credit support provider, if applicable, or a named neutral party, e.g., a trust company), and provisions precluding the SPE 705 from taking certain actions (including a voluntary filing in bankruptcy or a dissolution or liquidation, disposition of substantial assets, or amendment of its formation documents), without the affirmative approval of the independent managers. The formation documents may also include a requirement that the SPE 705 maintain compliance with customary standard rating agency mandated “separateness” and other characteristics then required by the major rating agencies. Similar provisions would be included in a trust agreement if the SPE were designed as a Delaware statutory trust.
Assuming compliance with the “separateness” provisions, this restructured architecture should warrant a conclusion that the SPE 705 would be restricted from filing bankruptcy itself without the approval of its independent managers and “remote” from any substantive consolidation risk in a bankruptcy of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525. In addition, the SPE 705 could not be dissolved and liquidated into bankruptcy without the approval of its independent managers. As a result, in the event of a bankruptcy of water/sewer operating company or the Municipal Entity owning the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525, or a default in payment of the water/sewer operating company's sublease rent obligations, the SPE 705 (at the direction of its independent managers, the trustee, the Municipal Entity, the bond trustee, or any credit-support provider for the bonds, if applicable, as specified in the SPE's formation documents) should be entitled to demand that the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525 assume and perform its sublease 755 obligations to the SPE 705 in accordance with Section 365 and other applicable provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, or reject the sublease 755 and relinquish rights (e.g., possession) under the ground lease 790 and the Municipal Facilities lease 780 in favor of the SPE 705 and its assignees. In the latter case, under Section 365 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the SPE 705 should then be in a position to make the ground lease 790 and Municipal Facilities lease 780 available to other water/sewer operating companies, on a basis that may enable the SPE 705 to continue making payments under the assumed loan agreement 765.
Additionally, the debt documents will obligate the SPE to enforce its rights against any lessees or sublessees. And, if the SPE 705 fails for some reason to enforce these rights, and the SPE's assumed obligations under the loan agreement 765 are supported by leasehold mortgages on the SPE's interest in the ground lease 790 and Municipal Facilities lease 780, the bond trustee should be able to foreclose on such mortgages because the SPE is not in bankruptcy, free of any “automatic stay” restrictions imposed by the bankruptcy of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity 525, and either sell the leasehold interests or re-sublease the ground and Municipal Facilities to other water/sewer operating companies and users on a potentially profitable basis, for the benefit of the holders of the ESFRBs.
It should be understood that various embodiments of the invention enable the structuring of a financing architecture for new money as well as the restructuring of an existing financing architecture. The various embodiments of the invention may permit a Municipal Entity to avoid selling the applicable Municipal Facilities outright to a private entity to raise much needed cash. Thus, the structuring of a new financing architecture such as those illustrated in
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, a water/sewer operating company and other interested parties might also undertake structured financing for new money in such a way as to provide a financing architecture that corresponds to a conventional “ground lease/lease assignment/subleaseback” financing architecture (see, e.g., architecture 100 in
Subsequently, at 835, an issuer issues the ESFRBs, supported only by the SPE obligations. The SPE may then, at 840, be identified as solely responsible on any related credit-support arrangements for the ESFRBs.
A determination may then be made, at 845, as to whether the SPE should reserve some portion of its revenues in a lease reserve fund to provide greater assurance of its ability to pay lease or sublease rent payments on a timely basis, e.g., create a lease reserve fund to cover rental payments during any relet period. If it is determined that such a fund should be created, associated actions would be performed at 850 and continue to be performed at 855. That practice may, however, be subject to arbitrage yield restrictions applicable to pledged funds. If it was determined that no such fund is necessary, the appropriate documentation of the actions performed in
It should be understood that the actions performed in
Similarly, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, an airport, a Municipal Entity, water/sewer operating company, third party private equity holders and other interested parties might undertake structuring financing transactions in such a way as to provide a financing architecture that corresponds to a conventional “ground lease plus loan” financing architecture (see, e.g., architecture in
At 915, the SPE enters into a sublease agreement with the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity, covering the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity's usage of the Municipal Facilities. The sublease rent from the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity together with any revenues derived by the SPE with respect to the Municipal Facilities from other sources, including other sublease rental income from other entities and end users of its services would, in the aggregate, be on terms sufficient to support the creditworthiness of the arrangement and to permit the conclusion that the sub-sublease is a “true lease” for federal bankruptcy purposes.
At 920, the formation documents of the SPE, if it is a limited liability company, are drafted to include provisions for at least two independent managers or other number as required by the major rating agencies rating the new or restricted debt (appointed by the host airport, bond trustee, a credit support provider, if applicable, or a third party, e.g., a trust company), and include provisions precluding the SPE from taking certain actions (including a voluntary filing in bankruptcy or a dissolution or liquidation, a disposition of substantial assets, or an amendment to its formation documents) without the affirmative approval of the independent managers. The formation documents may also include a requirement that the SPE maintain compliance with various, customary standard “separateness” characteristics (as explained above). Similar provisions would be included in a trust agreement if a statutory trust were used as the SPE instead of a limited liability company. At 925, the ESFRBs are financed on the strength of demand for use of the essential services and improvements furnished by the Municipal Facility and the legal attributes and credit of the SPE.
As a result, of such actions, a financing architecture may be provided as illustrated in
Again it should be understood that the actions performed in
As alluded to above, it should be understood that various embodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein and interrelated issues and factors are worth consideration by one of ordinary skill. For example, the same principle and structure is applicable to Municipal Entity-owned seaports, airports, bus or train transport services or municipal parking lots. Another application of the present principle and structure is an energy project, such as a cogeneration facility, windfarm facility, improvements to oil refineries or any other suitable type of energy production facility as recognized by one skilled in the art.
From a tax standpoint, there may be a number of federal income tax issues relevant to structuring or restructuring performed in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Potential issues seem to arise in three areas: (1) consequences of the structured/restructured transaction; (2) consequences of operations under the resulting financing architecture; and (3) implications for an existing or new tax-exempt, tax credit, or taxable bond financing of the Municipal Facilities.
An assignment of the rights of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity under the ground lease and Municipal Facilities sublease to the SPE should have no federal income tax effect, because the SPE is meant to be treated in effect as a mere branch of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity (if the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity is the only member), or a partnership (if two or more airports, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entities are members) for federal income tax purposes. As a result, the assignments should not be treated as a taxable transaction. Tax treatment will differ if the SPE is not owned by the water/sewer operating company transferor.
There may be some instances in which the Municipal Facilities are presently jointly-operated by two or more airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entities, either as a joint venture or through some common legal entity. In such a situation, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, contributing existing rights to a conduit SPE, or contributing interests in an ownership entity to one or more SPEs may achieve the federal income tax effect noted above.
In the case of a single-member SPE, if the SPE is a “disregarded entity” of the water/sewer operating company, its operations, revenue and expenses should have no different federal income tax effect to the water/sewer operating company as a result of the restructure architecture, even if the contractual arrangements between the entities involve a sub-sublease payment obligation from the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity to the SPE. However, if multiple airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entities and/or third party private equity investors are the sponsoring parties, further analysis would be required to determine the effects of restructuring the financing architecture as described above; nevertheless, the potential for partnership treatment of an interposed SPE (or for interposed SPEs of each participating water/sewer operating company) is possible under federal income tax regulations.
In the case of the structuring of a financing architecture for new money, it does not appear that methods and architectures designed in accordance with the invention would involve any significantly different tax-exempt financing considerations than a financing for the direct benefit of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity. However, when an existing, outstanding tax-exempt issue of CBSMBs or other bonds is involved, other considerations may be relevant. In particular, the form of a restructured architecture designed in accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention will involve a refunding of any existing outstanding bonds that are callable.
In general, if the CBSMBs or other bonds were issued after 1986, the refunding may not present any new or different federal income tax issues for tax-exempt purposes.
If, however, the existing bonds were issued before the effective date of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, there may be a question whether the refunding bonds qualify under transition rules of the 1986 Act, without regard to the new standards for facilities financings that were first imposed by that Act. This conclusion might be more easily reached if the SPE is a single-member entity of the airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity, rather than a common entity of more than one airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity and/or third party private equity investors; however, if any change occurs through the interposition of entities above that level, there may be no basis for a distinction.
On the other hand, if the refunding of a pre-1986 bond issue would not be eligible for transition-rule protection, evaluation may need to be performed by tax and bond counsel in light of the changes that have since occurred.
Beyond these tax implications, there may be additional issues posed by the structuring or restructuring of a financing architecture and associated processes. In particular, for example, if a restructured financing architecture requires some accumulation of revenues or third party private equity contributions at the level of the SPE, for the better assurance of the credit of the bonds (or the credit-support provider, if applicable), care may need to be exercised to assure either that such funds do not constitute “replacement proceeds” of the bonds, subject to an investment yield limitation not greater than the yield of the bonds, or that they comply with such limitations. It is possible that such limitations could be avoided by providing that any such accumulated funds are not pledged for payment of sublease rent, and are at all times subject to debit, if necessary, to pay operating costs of the SPE. If depressed yields are available for temporary investments, this may not be a practical problem, but a method of assuring compliance may need to be considered.
In addition, and wholly apart from the above, any particular restructuring along the lines herein disclosed may require evaluation of relevant state or local income or other tax issues.
Further, it should be understood that the effect of structuring or restructuring financing architectures in accordance with various embodiments of the invention primarily depends, in each case, on the essentiality of the Municipal Facilities and the projected strong demand for use of the essential services or improvements furnished by the Municipal Facilities by consumers and others. Thus, the structuring or restructuring of financing architectures with and SPE cannot guarantee a successful result without the requisite essentiality and demonstrable demand for use of the services or improvements furnished by the Municipal Facilities.
Nevertheless, the financing processes and architectures provided in accordance with embodiments of the invention may effectively prevent a ground lease and a Municipal Facilities lease from being frozen in a possible bankruptcy of a water/sewer operating company, for example, while associated bonds are in default.
While the embodiments of the present invention may have been explained with regard to particular examples of implementation of various embodiments of the invention in the context of a water/sewer provider, it should be understood that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
For example, although implementations of particular embodiments of the invention have been described in connection with a single airport, water, sewer or any other municipal operating entity, it should be understood that the invention may be practiced in connection with the financing or refinancing of all manner of Municipal Facilities and for more than one water/sewer operating company, for example, a group or consortium of water/sewer operating companies and third party private equity investors, or may be applied in a financing or refinancing of a maritime cargo and/or airport passenger or cargo terminal or berth, toll bridges or toll roads, train depots, bus and train transit services, water/sewer projects or energy projects with demonstrable demand for use of the essential services furnished by such Municipal Facilities.
It is also noted that the present invention is applicable for performed or executed in a computing environment, for example the computing of a credit rating for the financing as noted above. The loan and bond financing structure can be implemented in a computer-implemented environment including processing operations performed by a computer-processing device. For example, a physical processor may perform computational processing operations in response to executable code physically stored in a computer readable medium.
In software implementations, computer software (e.g., programs or other instructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as part of a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system or other device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, or communications interface. Computer programs (also called computer control logic or computer readable program code) are stored in a main and/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors (controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors to perform the functions of the invention as described herein. In this document, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media such as a random access memory (RAM); a read only memory (ROM); a removable storage unit (e.g., a magnetic or optical disc, flash memory device, or the like); a hard disk; or the like.
Notably, the figures and examples above are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to a single embodiment, as other embodiments are possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention can be partially or fully implemented using known components, only those portions of such known components that are necessary for an understanding of the present invention are described, and detailed descriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted so as not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, an embodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily be limited to other embodiments including a plurality of the same component, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. Moreover, applicant does not intend for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses present and future known equivalents to the known components referred to herein by way of illustration.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applying knowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including the contents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein), readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present invention. Such adaptations and modifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with the knowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).
Claims
1. A process for obtaining financing, the process comprising:
- forming a single-purpose business entity (SPE), with at least one operating requirement that establishes separateness of the single-purpose business entity from one or more separate business entities;
- transferring the one or more separate business entities' facility or equipment lease obligations to the SPE;
- assigning rights to revenues of the facility or equipment to the SPE;
- forming a lessee relationship with the single-purpose entity wherein a third party pays the revenues to the SPE;
- obtaining a rating from a rating agency, wherein the rating agency computes, in a programmed machine, a credit rating for the financing using a formula that has as a parameter the revenues of the SPE, the computed credit rating being superior to a credit rating available to the one or more business entities; and
- securing bond financing for the facility or equipment on a basis of the computed credit rating including issuing bonds with a rating established at least in part in view of a facility or equipment.
2. The process of claim 1, including the additional steps of treating the single-purpose business entity as a disregarded entity if there is only one separate business entity and treating the single-purpose business entity as a partnership if there is more than one separate business entity.
3. The process of claim 1, wherein there are existing bonds for the facility or equipment and wherein the step of securing bond financing includes refinancing the existing bonds with a rating established at least in part in view of a facility or equipment.
4. The process of claim 1, wherein the transferring, assigning, forming and securing steps restructure financing architecture concerning one of a ground lease, a lease assignment, and a subleaseback.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein the transferring, assigning, forming and securing steps restructure financing architecture concerns a ground lease plus loan architecture.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein the forming step having the at least one operating requirement that establishes separateness of the single-purpose business entity from the one or more separate business entities comprises establishing a board of managers including at least two independent managers unrelated to the one or more separate business entities.
7. The process of claim 1, wherein the forming step having the at least one operating requirement that establishes separateness of the single-purpose business entity from the one or more separate business entities comprises establishing a board of managers including at least one independent manager unrelated to the one or more separate business entities.
8. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of securing a bond issuance generates funds, the method including the additional step of allocating the funds financing for purchase, construction or renovation of a public use facility or equipment.
9. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of securing a bond issuance generates funds, the method including the additional step of allocating the funds financing for purchase, construction or renovation of an airport-related facility or equipment.
10. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of securing a bond issuance generates funds, the method including the additional step of allocating the funds financing for purchase, construction or renovation of a facility or equipment for a port facility.
11. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of securing a bond issuance generates funds, the method including the additional step of allocating the funds financing for purchase, construction or renovation of a facility or equipment for road transportation or rail transportation.
11-13. (canceled)
14. A process for obtaining financing, the process comprising:
- forming a single-purpose business entity (SPE), with at least one operating requirement that establishes separateness of the SPE from one or more separate business entities including establishing a board of managers including at least of: one independent manager and at least two independent managers, the independent manager being unrelated to the one or more separate business entities and establishing the SPE to not be authorized to liquidate or to file in bankruptcy without approval of all its managers, including the independent managers;
- transferring the one or more separate business entities' facility or equipment lease obligations to the SPE;
- assigning rights to revenues of the facility or equipment to the SPE;
- forming a lessee relationship with the single-purpose entity wherein a third party pays the revenues to the SPE;
- obtaining a rating from a rating agency, wherein the rating agency computes, in a programmed machine, a credit rating for the financing using a formula that has as a parameter the revenues of the SPE, the computed credit rating being superior to a credit rating available to the one or more business entities; and
- securing bond financing for the facility or equipment on a basis of the computed credit rating including issuing bonds with a rating established at least in part in view of a facility or equipment.
15. A process for obtaining financing, the process comprising:
- forming a single-purpose business entity (SPE), with at least one operating requirement that establishes separateness of the single-purpose business entity from one or more separate business entities including establishing a board of managers or directors including at least one independent manager or director unrelated to the one or more separate business entities;
- transferring the one or more separate business entities' facility or equipment lease obligations to the SPE;
- assigning rights to revenues of the facility or equipment to the SPE;
- forming a lessee relationship with the single-purpose entity wherein a third party pays the revenues to the SPE;
- obtaining a rating from a rating agency, wherein the rating agency computes, in a programmed machine, a credit rating for the financing using a formula that has as a parameter the revenues of the SPE, the computed credit rating being superior to a credit rating available to the one or more business entities; and
- securing bond financing for the facility or equipment on a basis of the computed credit rating including issuing bonds with a rating established at least in part in view of a facility or equipment.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein a consent of one or more independent managers or directors is required in order to file a bankruptcy petition.
17. The process of claim 15, wherein a consent of one or more independent managers or directors is required in order to file an insolvency petition.
18. The process of claim 15, wherein a consent of one or more independent managers or directors is required in order to institute insolvency proceedings.
19. The process of claim 15, wherein the SPE incurs related debt, but is limited in incurring any additional indebtedness other than the related debt.
20. The process of claim 15, wherein the SPE is at least one of: a corporation, a limited liability company, a limited partnership and a statutory trust.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 16, 2010
Publication Date: Jun 16, 2011
Inventor: Linda Grant Williams (Bedford, NY)
Application Number: 12/883,866
International Classification: G06Q 40/00 (20060101);
