New York City officials are hoping to announce their selections for the city's bond underwriting syndicates in about three weeks in preparation for a general obligation bond issue scheduled for sale sometime in late October.
The bond deal will probably occur around the time of an official modification of the city's $31.6 billion budget. The budget modification will detail measures to close a budget gap of about $800 million for fiscal 1995, which began July 1.
This week, however, the city is meeting with about 20 firms competing to underwrite city Water Authority bonds. The city last week met with firms for its general obligation syndicate. For fiscal 1995, the city plans on issuing $2.75 billion of GOs, and about $1.2 billion of Water Authority debt.
"We would like to have underwriter decisions in the next three weeks," said one official from the New York City comptroller's office, who asked for anonymity.
Officials in the mayor's office have the same timetable in mind.
Underwriter selections are made jointly by the mayor's office and the comptroller's office. The mayor has appointed a team of officials including budget director Abraham Lackman, finance commissioner Mark Shaw, corporation counsel Paul Crotty, and deputy mayor John Dyson to make underwriter and financial adviser picks. City Comptroller Alan Hevesi relies on his staff led by first deputy comptroller Michael Geffrard.
Wall Street sources say they expect a reduction in the number of senior bankers and co-managers on the underwriting teams. Under former Mayor David N. Dinkins and former city Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman, the city selected seven firms as senior managers of its-general obligation bond syndicate, and more than 20 firms as either co-managers or selling group members.
Several city officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, also say that aides of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Hevesi could meet as early as this week on the controversial topic of selecting the city's financial adviser.
Giuliani says only one firm should serve as financial adviser, Public Resources Advisory Group, while Hevesi says two are needed, and wants to add P.G. Corbin & Co., a Philadelphia-based minority-owned firm.
Since the summer, both sides have feuded over the adviser selection, and as a compromise, both Public Resources and P.G. Corbin have both been working on city bond deals until the matter can be settled. For example, both Public Resources and P.G. Corbin have sat in on underwriter interviews in recent weeks, and will do so again for the Water Authority selections.
Lackman and Geffrard are leading the negotiations on the financial adviser selection. Neither could be reached for comment.
