Porter, White & Company provides a variety of financial advisory services to tax-exempt issuing entities. Our abilities enable us to provide advice and services in all aspects relating to the issuance of the bonds, including oversight of the structuring and sale of bonds, coordination with rating agencies, oversight of preparation of documents, assistance with the disbursement of bond proceeds and oversight of the closing of the bond issue. Porter, White has extensive public finance experience, having served as financial advisor or underwriter on 196 transactions totaling nearly $6 billion.
The scores of issuers with whom we have worked is indicative of our breadth of experience as well as our ability to understand complex financing situations. Our long-standing presence in the Southeast provides Porter, White with significant knowledge of local markets and issuers. Our experience spans all facets of tax-exempt finance from revenue bonds to general obligations bonds, including new money and refunding transactions, tax increment and tax anticipation notes, pollution control and solid waste disposal bonds and combined fixed rate/ variable rate issues.
Although Porter, White & Company no longer serves as underwriter for municipal new issues, the firm continues to be active as a financial advisor in the public finance industry. Porter, White sees its role as financial advisor split into three key roles-the roles of Coach, Engineer and Publicist-all of which play an integral role in a successful financing.
Coach: As Coach, we help assemble and motivate the financing team. The goal is to plan and close the most effective financing possible for the issuer, and we apply ourselves, and cause others to apply themselves, unrelentingly to this objective. We make sure that all members of the team have a defined role that they accept, and that they are encouraged to participate creatively. We make sure that the team maintains focus and perspective on the goals of the issue.
Engineer: The financial advisor has the greatest opportunity to add value in a financing through the development of an effective Plan of Finance. As Engineer, we bring a thorough working knowledge of the federal law of tax exempt financing, superior long term financial planning ability and experience, and a thorough knowledge of the financial economics of tax exempt bonds are characteristics of our firm. Tasks in developing a plan of finance include reviewing bond documents to evaluate the desirability of modifying the bond indenture, development of an overall timeline that will determine whether the financing should be accomplished in one or more phases, as well a discussion of the structure of the financing fixed versus variable rate, use of credit enhancement, analysis of cash flows, coverage levels and security features of the issue.
Publicist: As Publicist, we gather and analyze the facts and present them in the offering documents and supplemental materials completely and credibly. We identify the strengths and weaknesses of the institution and develop strategies for accentuating the strengths and explaining the weaknesses. We understand the criteria of the rating agencies for each rating level and we organize the information and prepare our clients for the presentations in order to achieve the highest practical rating. Effective public relations means speaking the truth in a way that enhances the client's position.
