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2.9.06 Merrill Lynch buys M.U.D. bonds Metropolitan Utilities District's board on Wednesday approved the sale of $100 million in tax-exempt, 25-year bonds at an average annual rate of 4.3393 percent to finance a water treatment plant. The rate is well below the 4.6 percent budgeted for the project, said M.U.D. Treasurer Ron Bucher, and sets interest costs of the borrowed money at $69.93 million. Merrill Lynch submitted the lowest bid, winning out over nine other bidders in a 30-minute bond auction conducted Wednesday over the Internet. The utility plans to issue another $100 million in bonds toward the $352 million water project within the next year. Wednesday's auction was the first M.U.D. bond sale since 1972. Individual investors can't purchase such bonds directly from M.U.D. but can contact investment advisers about investing in the secondary bond market. Bucher said selling directly to the public would require having a staff to administer the bonds, which would not be economical because M.U.D. sells bonds infrequently.
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