Fitch Rates New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.'s Extendable Muni CP 'F1+'

* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:44pm EDT

CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
Fitch Ratings assigns an 'F1+' rating to the New York State Environmental
Facilities Corp.'s (EFC) extendable municipal commercial paper (EMCP) notes
(series 1) program in an aggregate authorized amount not to exceed $200 million.
The issuance of the series 1 notes, expected within the next 60 days, represents
EFC's initial utilization of EMCP. 

Note proceeds will reimburse EFC for the cost of acquiring loans for its clean
water and drinking water state revolving fund (SRF) program. The proceeds of the
EMCP program may also refund future EMCP notes and pay costs of issuance. 

The 'F1+' rating reflects the solid program structure and a significant amount
of available liquidity to redeem the EMCP if necessary. The rating is also based
on the strong underlying credit quality and market access of the Master
Financing Indenture (MFI) SRF program bonds (senior and subordinate lien rated
'AAA' with a Stable Outlook by Fitch), which are expected to be issued to fund
the notes. 

The EMCP will have original maturities from one to 90 days from the original
issue date of each note. However, EFC reserves the right to extend the maturity
up to 270 days from and including the original issue date. If the notes are
extended to the extended maturity date, the interest rate would be reset based
on a formula tied to the SIFMA and the program's EMCP rating. 

The EMCP notes are secured by proceeds of notes or other obligations issued by
EFC, loan recipient obligations that are an expected repayment source, pledged
recipient payments and a subordinate lien on released (or de-allocated) reserves
from the bonds issued under EFC's master trust agreement including the senior
and subordinate MFI pooled program and the New York City Municipal Water Finance
Authority program. De-allocated reserves are then held in the equity fund. EFC
maintains a strong equity fund balance which averages $713 million weekly. These
amounts provide significant protection to EMCP note holders if needed. 

The MFI's 'AAA' program bond ratings reflect a diversified loan portfolio of 356
participants and strong debt service reserves to offset any loan defaults. MFI
reserves currently total $794 million (or 39.7% of MFI bond principal
outstanding). 

Fitch also rates EFC's New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority (NYCMWFA)
senior lien program bonds 'AAA' with a Stable Outlook. The rating is based on
the credit quality of the NYCMWFA and the strong payment interruption tolerance
from substantial reserves, which total $1.8 billion or 44% of outstanding EFC
NYCMWFA senior bond principal. 

To date, the EFC has not had a borrower default on its loan repayment
obligations, so no draws have ever been made on dedicated reserves. 

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on
the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and
methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of
conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance
and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of
Conduct' section of this site. 





Fitch Ratings
Adrienne M. Booker, 312-368-5471, Chicago
Laura Porter, 212-908-0575, New York
or
Media Relations:
Cindy Stoller, 212-908-0526, New York
Email: cindy.stoller@fitchratings.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009

Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.