The Film Academy Does A Re-Fi, With $98.8 Million In New Bonds

Financial wheels are in motion again at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, this time with a new bond issue that replaces about $128 million in earlier bonds that were about to come due in November. In other words, they’ve re-financed.

According to the Electronic Municipal Market Access System, a new debt issue of $98.8 million began trading on Thursday morning at a price of $130.741. That would indicate a yield for investors of 1.38 percent, and should give the Academy just about enough fresh cash to redeem its 2015B bonds, which were about to mature. A call for redemption was issued on those bonds earlier this month, with a call date of July 8.

The new bonds mature on November 1, 2029.

Earlier this year, the Academy issued $100 million in bonds to support construction of its motion picture museum, the opening of which was postponed from mid-December to April 25, five days after the similarly postponed Oscar show. In all, the Academy appears to have a little more than $400 million in museum-related bond debt from three issues that will remain after the announced redemption.