Citizens Property Completes $3.05B Bond Sale

Citizens Property Insurance Inc. successfully completed a $3.05 billion bond sale Tuesday, boosting company reserves for damage claim payment if a storm strikes, a company official said.

“We had a very successful pricing today,” said Terri Slack, CFO of the not-for-profit company. “We priced at a lower interest rate than anticipated.”

Lower interest rates mean Citizens will pay less money to service the debt over a 20-year span, Slack said.

The sale boosted Citizens’ reserves for paying claims to nearly $5 billion.

Slack said the bond revenue will be used to pay future claims “after Citizens’ available resources have been utilized.”

The sale boosted Citizens’ reserves for paying claims to nearly $5 billion.

Citizens and its financial advisor, Raymond James, began working on the bond sale earlier this year as a means to build reserves to pay for damage claims from future hurricanes.

Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and UBS were the senior managers of the sale.

Source: Citizens Property Insurance Inc.