Ice Miller attorneys have worked on hundreds of bond financings for both public and private institutions of higher education throughout the Midwest and nationwide. We serve in a variety of capacities including: bond, borrower’s, issuer’s, underwriter’s, special disclosure and/or bank counsel.
Ice Miller assists institutions of higher education in the development and execution of their financing strategies, and has played a significant part in the transformation of numerous campuses and in the fulfillment of institutional goals. Ice Miller attorneys have extensive experience with all types of financial structures, including:
- Public offerings
- Private placements
- Fixed rate or floating rate issues
- Refundings
- Interest rate swap transactions
- Short-term borrowings
Ice Miller understands that tax-exempt (and other) financings for institutions of higher education, especially large public institutions, are unique in several respects:
- Typically undertake such financings on a system-wide basis and for multiple projects at a time. These financings are often limited source transactions, issued under the rules of particular statutes, and payable from or secured by a specified revenue stream, while others are general revenue obligations, which in turn are simply a broader form of limited source bonds.
- May issue bonds under multiple master indentures, each with a separate revenue source and under separate statutory authority.
Awareness of these issues enables Ice Miller to plan and structure tax-exempt bond issues for institutions of higher education in an efficient manner.
Disclosure Counsel. Attorneys at Ice Miller frequently serve as disclosure counsel to issuers in connection with the issuance and underwriting of state and municipal obligations. Ice Miller has significant experience with federal and state securities laws and has worked on dozens of similar bond transactions as disclosure counsel. We regularly serve as disclosure counsel on higher education transactions where we are also bond counsel. We understand higher education disclosure practices and issues and can ease your burden, both in terms of initial disclosure on new transactions and on annual continuing disclosure compliance.
Post Issuance Compliance Counsel and Arbitrage Rebate Counsel. Ice Miller has extensive experience in post issuance compliance in all its phases. We work with countless issuers every year to help them satisfy their responsibilities. We assist schools by doing arbitrage rebate reviews and calculations, by advising on continuing disclosure responsibilities (both annual and reportable event disclosure) and by advising on annual private use calculations for bonds and bond financed projects. We also regularly advise in connection with a university’s oversight of the expenditure of bond proceeds.
Public-Private Partnerships. Ice Miller is nationally recognized for its experience in Public-Private Partnerships. Our experience across the full spectrum of complex P3 and infrastructure transactions enables us to bring ideas to the table for institutions of higher education in all areas.