Fitch Assigns ‘A+’ to Catholic Healthcare West Bond Offering

Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘A+’ rating to Catholic Healthcare West’s (CHW) upcoming $1.2 billion series 2007 bonds. In addition, Fitch affirms the ‘A+’ rating on approximately $2.9 billion in outstanding bonds (listed below). The Rating Outlook is Stable.

The 2007 bonds are expected to be issued through multiple issuers in California, Arizona and Nevada. CHW expects to issue a total of $675.6 million bonds through the California Statewide Communities Development Authority as 7-day or 35-day insured auction rate securities. The bonds are expected to be issued in twelve separate series (series 2007 A-L) each of which will be insured by Assured Guaranty (AGIC), CIFG Assurance (CIFG), Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), Financial Security Assurance (FSA) or MBIA Insurance (MBIA). The broker-dealers agent on each of the series 2007A-L bonds will be either Citigroup, Inc or J.P. Morgan, Inc. In addition, CHW expects to issue $449.6 million of uninsured, conventional fixed rate bonds with approximately $171 million to be issued through the Maricopa County, AZ Industrial Development Authority, $184.3 million to be issued through the City of Henderson, NV and $94.2 million to be issued through the City of Reno, NV.