What Sets CHFFA Apart
Responsiveness
California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHFFA) management and staff will work with the borrower and its financing team through the bond application process. Once approved, bonds can typically be priced and closed within less than two months of application submission. Additionally, CHFFA is amenable to scheduling a meeting for a financing approval to accommodate a borrower’s expedited timeline.
Experienced Staff
Having been in business since 1979, CHFFA has issued over $42 billion in bonds to approximately 170 California health institutions. Over five decades, CHFFA has honed its ability to ensure a smooth application process and to make the closing process as straightforward as possible. The California State Treasurer is the Agent for Sale on all transactions financed with CHFFA as the conduit issuer, which also provides borrowers access to experienced bond financing staff from the California State Treasurer’s Office, Public Finance Division.
Flexibility of Financing Structure
CHFFA has extensive experience issuing bonds and other forms of indebtedness in both public offerings and direct placements using a variety of structures, including multi-modal indentures, master indentures, master loan agreements, deeds of trust and other security documents, and other financing structures (including forward delivery). The depth of experience of CHFFA staff has made the agency well positioned to consider innovative financing techniques.
Cost Effectiveness
CHFFA has one of the lowest fee structures in the business.
- Initial fees are 5 basis points of the par amount (capped at $100,000), and
- a flat $1,000 for smaller private and all public health facilities.
This structure may, at times, subsidize smaller bond transactions, where the cost to process and close a transaction exceeds the fee charged.
- Annual fees are 1.75 bps (capped at $150,000) and based on the outstanding balance of a borrower’s CHFFA debt portfolio as of January 1 of each year.
- Annual fees for smaller private and all public health facilities can be as low as $500.
Statewide TEFRA Hearing
- As a state agency, CHFFA conducts one public Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) hearing at its offices in Sacramento, regardless of the number and locations of the projects being financed, resulting in a streamlined, efficient process.
- Any eligible borrower may apply to CHFFA, regardless of its location.
- In addition, TEFRA notices may be posted on CHFFA’s website at no further cost, saving potentially thousands of dollars that would be otherwise required to publish the public hearings in the newspapers of the cities where the projects are located.
Transparency
CHFFA is an authority housed in the California State Treasurer’s Office.
All financings are approved by a nine member board consisting of
- the State Treasurer (chair),
- the State Controller,
- the Director of Finance, and
- six representatives appointed by the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Assembly Speaker.
Meetings are held in an open, public setting, and materials (including agendas, minutes, and staff reports) are posted on CHFFA’s website well in advance of the meeting dates.
Historical and current meeting materials as well as audit and annual reports also are available to the public through CHFFA’s website.