Structured Investment Product Bidding

(Municipal Advisor related services only)

Since 2008, BLX has placed over 550 structured investment products, including escrow portfolios.

BLX, as an independent advisor, undertakes a competitive bid process on behalf of clients to acquire structured product investments, including but not limited to, collateralized and uncollateralized investment agreements, forward delivery agreements, and repurchase agreements. In addition, members of BLX’s structured products group work with clients to structure and procure open market portfolios. For information about on-line auctions for structured products, please click to go to BLXBID™.

TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS
BLX assists its clients with formulating, executing, and monitoring investment strategies tailored with the special considerations that arise with tax-exempt bond proceeds and similar restricted funds in mind. Structured Products, including guaranteed investment contracts, forward delivery agreements, repurchase agreements, and similar arrangements, typically constitute an important part of our client’s investment portfolios.

NOT A TRIVIAL MATTER
Investment decisions should not be an afterthought, or treated as a trivial matter. They are second only to the decisions on how to borrow the proceeds in terms of direct impact on the economics of the financing. Careful considerations must be given to Federal tax law, in terms of compliance, as well as optimization, under the complex rules and regulations. As a result, many of the nation’s large and sophisticated tax-exempt bond issuers turn to BLX for Structured Product services.

BLX is virtually unique in its ability to design and implement strategies. Along with identifying appropriate safety, liquidity, and yield characteristics of a candidate structured product, the firm has the tax regulatory expertise to build prospective arbitrage rebate models that rigorously compare investments alternatives which account for the additional costs and benefits of options that can be incorporated into the structure of the investment.

COMPLEX APPROACH BUT A SIMPLE RESULT
A Structured Product offers an elegant and concise solution that is designed to minimize administrative burden. BLX works hard to make the process straightforward and well-documented.

DISCIPLINED APPROACH
Inherent in all of BLX’s municipal advisory services is a disciplined approach to identifying and procuring investments for bond proceeds. Specifically, BLX can:

• Review the mechanics of your bond issue(s), available investment alternatives, and projected expenditure schedules
• Construct comprehensive, prospective arbitrage rebate models
• Prepare an investment recommendation that isolates the best investment strategy
• Execute and properly document the chosen strategy, making sure that purchases of securities and/or investment products are in compliance with the “safe harbor” requirements of the Treasury Regulations

SHOULD I WAIT TO INVEST?
Nobody can predict the magnitude and direction of future changes in interest rates. BLX can, however, assist you in devising and implementing an investment strategy that incorporates the risks and opportunities associated with investing in the prevailing interest rate environment, and is “stress tested” to forecast how changes in the prevailing interest rate environment may affect that strategy.