Approximately $74 million of MTP shares affected
New York, April 05, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned ratings of Aa2 to MuniFund Term
Preferred Shares (MTP) to be issued by the Nuveen Ohio Quality Income
Municipal Fund, Inc. (NUO), a NYSE listed closed-end
fund. The preferred shares will be issued in connection with the
merger of three Ohio closed-end funds into NUO. Pursuant
to the terms of the reorganization, NUO will issue the new preferred
shares in exchange for outstanding preferred shares of the three acquired
funds. Immediately prior to the reorganization, the fund
changed its domicile from a Minnesota corporation to a Massachusetts business
trust.
The fund's newly issued shares, which retain the same fixed per
annum dividend rate, mandatory term redemption and liquidation preferences
as the outstanding shares of the three acquired funds, are listed
below:
1,945,000 MTP Shares 2.35% Series 2015 with
a per share liquidation preference of $10 per share and a total
liquidation value of $19.450 million. Term redemption
date 12/1/2015 and a fixed dividend rate of 2.35%.
1,165,340 MTP Shares 2.95% Series 2016 with
a per share liquidation preference of $10 per share and a total
liquidation value of $11.653400 million. Term redemption
date 4/1/2016 and a fixed dividend rate of 2.95%.
4,271,415 MTP Shares 2.35% Series 2014 with
a per share liquidation preference of $10 per share and a total
liquidation value of about $42.71415 million. Term
redemption date 5/1/2014 and a fixed dividend rate of 2.35%.
Moody's also affirmed NUO's outstanding 735 VMTP Shares, Series
2014 with a per share liquidation preference of $100,000
and a total liquidation value of $73.5 million. Term
redemption date 8/1/2014. These shares will remain outstanding
following the completion of the reorganization.
Moody's also affirmed the MTP shares currently outstanding in the
three funds to be acquired. These include:
Nuveen Ohio Dividend Advantage Municipal Fund (NXI) 1,945,000
MTP Shares 2.35% Series 2015 with a per share liquidation
preference of $10 per share and a total liquidation value of $19.450
million with a term redemption date of 12/1/2015 and a fixed dividend
rate of 2.35% and 1,165,340 MTP Shares 2.95%
Series 2016 with a per share liquidation preference of $10 per
share and a total liquidation value of $11.6534 million
with a term redemption date of 4/1/2016 and a fixed dividend rate of 2.95%.
Nuveen Ohio Dividend Advantage Municipal Fund 2 (NBJ) 2,424,400
MTP Shares 2.35% Series 2014 with a per share liquidation
preference of $10 per share and a total liquidation value of $24.244
million. Term redemption date 5/1/2014 and a fixed dividend rate
of 2.35%.
Nuveen Ohio Dividend Advantage Municipal Fund 3 (NVJ) 1,847,015
MTP Shares 2.35% Series 2014 with a per share liquidation
preference of $10 per share and a total liquidation value of $18.470150
million. Term redemption date 5/1/2014 and a fixed dividend rate
of 2.35%.
The ratings assigned to these shares of the acquired funds will be withdrawn
immediately following the completion of their termination and exchange
into the new MTP shares.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The long-term Aa2 rating actions, affirmed and assigned to
the VMTP and MTP shares, are based on the following key rating factors
derived from the pro-forma NUO portfolio, as of January 31,
2013, with its gross assets in the amount of $503.0
million and 35% leverage consisting of VMTP shares (about 9%
, MTP shares (about 10%) and tender option bonds (TOBs) (about
16%):
Adjusted Leverage
The fund's pro-forma risk adjusted asset coverage ratio,
at 178%, is strong and the risk of an Investment Company
of 1940 Act (1940 Act) breach is low at 5.9 times, as calculated
by Moody's based on the portfolio's historic volatility and leverage.
Both results are consistent with a score of Aaa for these metrics.
Portfolio Profile
The fund's portfolio profile, which captures the credit quality
and liquidity of the fund's holdings, reflect the strong credit
quality of municipal holdings that are invested in Ohio (Aa1, stable)
across various general obligation, tax obligation, revenue
bonds, pre-refunded bonds as well as other security types.
NUO registers a weighted average credit quality of Aa3.
This is offset by weaker liquidity metrics generally for municipal funds.
In the case of NUO, and Ohio state-specific fund with its
single-state focus concentration which could be exacerbated in
any future municipal market downturn, further downward adjustments
are taken to reflect these factors.
Fixed Charge Coverage
The long-term ratings of the MTP and VMTP shares are further supported
by the strong fixed charge coverage ratio at 6.2 times, when
calculated on a trailing one year basis. This demonstrates a strong
capacity on the part of NUO to meet periodic dividend payments from recurring
earnings.
Relative Priority of Claim
In addition to assessing the key rating factors described above,
Moody's considers the priority of claim of a fund's specific security
types and any other qualitative factors relevant to the fund's credit
profile. In the case of preferred securities, which is the
instrument class associated with these ratings, a one-notch
downward adjustment from the senior rating profile suggested by the key
factors is made to reflect the weaker position of investors holding preferred
stock relative to those holding senior unsecured debt obligations.
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC is the investment adviser for the funds,
responsible for determining each fund's overall investment strategy.
Nuveen Investments and its affiliates had approximately $219 billion
of assets under management as of December 31, 2012, of which
about 42% was in municipal securities.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Moody's Methodology
for Rating Securities Issued by U.S. Closed-End Funds
published in May 2012. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Henry Shilling
Senior Vice President
Managed Investments Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Yaron Ernst
MD - Managed Investments
Managed Investments Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's assigns Aa2 rating to MTP shares to be issued by Nuveen Ohio Quality Income Municipal Fund post merger