Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force Issues Draft Document regarding Voluntary Secondary Market Bank Loan Disclosure; Comments Due February 13
[26971]
February 5, 2013
TO: MUNICIPAL SECURITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 4-13 RE: BANK LOAN DISCLOSURE TASK FORCE ISSUES DRAFT DOCUMENT REGARDING VOLUNTARY SECONDARY MARKET BANK LOAN DISCLOSURE; COMMENTS DUE FEBRUARY 13
Since 2009, state and local governmental issuers and conduit borrowers have increasingly used private bank loans as an alternative to publicly offered municipal securities. As a result, bondholders and their representatives began encouraging issuers to voluntarily post information about bank loans to the EMMA® website. In April 2012, the MSRB published MSRB Notice 2012-18, in which it encouraged issuers to voluntarily post information about bank loans to EMMA.
These calls for voluntary disclosure about bank loans led to the formation of the Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force in March 2012. The Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force, which includes ICI as a member, has prepared the attached document to assist issuers and their counsel in determining whether to disclose the incurrence of a bank loan on a voluntary basis and the extent of any such disclosure.
The Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force includes representatives of issuers, lenders, bond counsel, underwriters, financial advisors, securities analysts, institutional investors, and other interested parties. The particular groups that comprised the Task Force are listed in Appendix A in the attached draft document.
The Task Force has asked us to share this draft with our membership for review and comment. Please provide any comments to the draft document by Wednesday, February 13 to the undersigned at jheinrichs@ici.org.
Jane G. Heinrichs
Senior Associate Counsel