Citi to lead $1b DFW airport bond sale in Texas comeback

Citi to lead $1b DFW airport bond sale in Texas comeback

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Bloomberg

Citigroup Inc is underwriting a $1.2 billion bond sale for the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the largest deal it has managed since reentering the Texas municipal-bond market after being temporarily sidelined last year over the bank’s firearms policy.

The transaction would be a major win for the bank’s public finance business, which has seen its standing in the Lone Star State slide after a GOP law sought to keep companies that “discriminate” against firearms entities from working in Texas. Citi, which limits its business with gun retailers but has repeatedly said it complies with the law, has only underwritten four Texas deals amounting to $216 million since the legislation went into effect in September.

The bank was ranked as the 22nd biggest underwriter of Texas municipal-bond deals over the seven-month period ended on March 31, down 17 slots from the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile other large banks including Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co haven’t underwritten a bond deal by a Texas city or the state during that time.

It hasn’t been