$703M rated debt
New York, February 19, 2015 --
Moody's Rating
Issue: Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2015 (University of
Nebraska at Kearney Student Facilities Project); Rating: Aa1;
Sale Amount: $19,110,000; Expected Sale
Date: 02-24-2015; Rating Description: Revenue:
Public University Broad Pledge
Opinion
Moody's Investors Service assigns a Aa1 to University of Nebraska's $19
million of Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2015 (maturing in 2030).
At the same time, we are affirming the Aa1 rating on outstanding
revenue bonds secured by the Master Trust Indenture, University
of Nebraska Facilities Corporation and Nebraska Utility Corporation Bonds,
and The rating outlook is stable.
SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE
The Aa1 rating reflects the university's strong student demand as the
leading provider of four-year higher education in the state of
Nebraska, as well as its consistently positive operating performance
and cash flow through conservative financial management and centralized
budget oversight; and diversified revenue base.
Also incorporated into the rating is increased competition for research
funding and expected ongoing capital needs.
OUTLOOK
The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the university's financial
resource base will benefit from fundraising and positive operations and
that future borrowing plans will be manageable, with a sizeable
amount of principal payments made annually. We anticipate that
the university will maintain its strong student market position and that
projections for future debt service coverage from pledged revenues will
be sufficient.
WHAT COULD MAKE THE RATING GO UP
• Significant growth of liquid financial resources given the university's
large expense base
• Persistent improvement to operating cash flow
WHAT COULD MAKE THE RATING GO DOWN
• Substantial increase in leverage without commensurate growth in
financial reserves
• Sustained erosion of cash flow
• Deterioration of the state's credit quality
OBLIGOR PROFILE
The University of Nebraska, established in 1869, is the land
grant and flagship university for the state and a member of the prestigious
Big Ten athletic conference. The university has four campuses,
including academic campuses in Lincoln, Omaha, and Kearney,
as well as a medical center in Omaha. The Lincoln campus serves
as the state's flagship and land grant university, and the Omaha
campus is the second largest university in the state. The university
is large with nearly 51,000 headcount, and almost $2
billion of operating revenue.
LEGAL SECURITY
The Series 2015 (University of Nebraska at Kearney Student Facilities
Project) bonds are being issued through the Master Trust Indenture (MTI)
structure, which is secured by a Master Note that is payable from
the Pledged Revenues of the Obligated Group created by the MTI.
The Obligated Group includes many auxiliary facilities located on the
System's Lincoln, Kearney, and Omaha campuses as well as certain
mandatory student fees generated by students at those campuses.
The university has the ability to add new members to the Obligated Group
and issue additional debt under the MTI in the future if it is able to
demonstrate maintenance of at least 1.15 times debt service coverage
on the MTI debt. Including this series, the university has
approximately $427 million of MTI debt outstanding. MTI
debt service coverage was 1.6 times in FY 2014. The university
is projecting 1.6-1.7 times coverage for FYs 2015--
2017.
The university has $276 million of outstanding bonds issued through
the University of Nebraska Facilities Corporation that are payable solely
from payments to be made by the Board of Regents of the University of
Nebraska pursuant to lease agreements. The facilities corporation
was established to provide the university a vehicle for issuing debt for
purposes other than the four statutorily allowable circumstances in the
MTI. The Board's payments per the lease agreements are an absolute
and unconditional obligation, also payable from the University Cash
Fund and other legally available funds.
Approximately $22 million of Nebraska Utility Corporation (NUCorp)
bonds are secured by payments made pursuant to an energy and utility service
agreement between the Board of Regents of the university and NUCorp.
The university's payments under the agreement, including payments
to cover debt service, are absolute, unconditional,
and irrevocable, and the obligation to make payments remains in
full force even if the services are not provided. The university
must make all payments under the agreement from any legally available
funds including the University Cash Fund. Given the essentiality
of the facilities and services provided by NUCorp. to the operation
of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the university has
a very strong incentive to continue making payments under the agreement.
Management reports that the university had $492 million in its
cash fund and other legally available funds as of June 30, 2014
compared to approximately $290 million of total debt backed by
the University Cash Fund.
USE OF PROCEEDS
Proceeds of the Series 2015 bonds will be used to refund the University
of Nebraska at Kearney Student Fees and Facilities Revenue Bonds,
Series 2006, fund a debt service reserve account, and to pay
costs of issuance.
RATING METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was U.S. Not-for-Profit
Private and Public Higher Education published in August 2011. 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.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Eva Horton Bogaty
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Public Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Eugene Bradley Spielman
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Public Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
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 Aa1 to University of Nebraska's $19M Rev. Refunding Bonds, Series 2015; outlook stable