Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force Issues White Paper on Voluntary Secondary Market Bank Loan Disclosure
[27214]
May 2, 2013
TO: MUNICIPAL SECURITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 10-13 RE: BANK LOAN DISCLOSURE TASK FORCE ISSUES WHITE PAPER ON VOLUNTARY SECONDARY MARKET BANK LOAN DISCLOSURE
Yesterday, the municipal market’s Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force released its white paper regarding voluntary secondary market disclosure about bank loans. 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 Task Force in March 2012. The Task Force, which included ICI as a member, prepared the attached white paper to assist issuers, borrowers, and their financial advisors and legal counsel in determining whether to disclose the incurrence of a bank loan on a voluntary basis and the extent of any such disclosure.
The Task Force included 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 white paper.
Jane G. Heinrichs
Senior Associate Counsel