Business Case
Confidential
BondLink Investor Relations Platform
Finance Department
Background
The City of Durham issues municipal bonds (city debt) in order to gain financing for city projects and initiatives. Currently, the process for issuing bonds does not include a comprehensive investor relations program or efficient way to advertise and expand investor awareness.
With increased awareness, more investors would be attracted to the municipal bonds issued by Durham, which would result in Durham being able to sell debt at a lower interest rate saving the city money and allowing for more money to be available for the projects and initiatives of the City.
The City has been interested in implementing the BondLink investor relations platform, but previously did not have staff capacity to implement the new system.
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Current Business Problem
• There currently isn't advertising to investors interested in buying municipal bonds outside of the regulatory required bond issuance notices. Investors currently do their own comprehensive research to come across the bonds being issued by the city.
• Durham has no investor relations platform to keep citizens as well as potential investors informed of bond issuances, projects and initiatives in the city, and the use of the financial resources derived from selling debt to investors.
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Current Pain Points
• Lack of advertising capability
• Debt/Bond issuance rates could substantially increase
• Debt being issued could be issued with cheaper interest rates saving the city money
• Public awareness needs to increase making city bonds more attractive
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Desired Business Value
City of Durham Strategic Plan:
Goal 4: Innovative and High Performing Organization
Finance Department Strategic Plan: Promote Strong Financial Management to Ensure Adequate Resources to Meet Programmatic and Capital Needs of the City --> Affordable Housing General Obligation Financings, Establish Draw Program to Fund CIP
The implementation of BondLink will raise investor awareness and make the City of Durham more attractive for prospective bond investors effectively widening the available investor pool. This will allow the city to issue debt at a lower interest rate, saving the city money and allowing funds to be reallocated to initiatives and projects.
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Future State Benefits
• Public-accessible investor relations tool
• Transparency for citizen inquiry into debt management and usage of financial resources
• Increased municipal bond investor pool
• Decreased interest rates on issued debt
• Improved communications to city council and city manager
• Place City of Durham in the top-tier of municipal bond issuers
• Competitive advantage in municipal bond issuing marketplace
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Analysis and Recommended Solution
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BondLink Analysis
• Founded in Boston, MA in January 2016
• Venture backed fintech company offering solutions for municipal bond issuers in terms of investor relations, investor information roadshows, and investor analytics to drive demand for bons sales
• Serves states and territories, cities and towns, districts and schools, and various industry sectors
• Integrates with Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's Electronic Municipal Market Access website, which is the Congressional designated regulatory organization over municipal bond issuing
• Recognized as Top 100 GovTech Companies in 2021 and 2022
• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company that runs the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) placed a "strategic investment" into BondLink in 2021
• Sole-source provider. No other provider in the municipal bond issuing marketplace is providing turnkey investor relations websites, roadshows and presentations for potential investors, as well as access and integration into the buying and selling process
• There were no identifiable alternative options to BondLink, as BondLink is the de-facto standard investor relations platform software in the market.
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Sample of Municipalities Using BondLink
Cities & Towns
Chicago, Illinois
Tallahassee, Florida
Charlotte, North Carolina
States and Territories
Johnston County, North Carolina
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California
Florida
Indiana
Boston, Massachusetts
Washington D.C.
Ohio
Rhode
Island
Commonwealth
of Virginia
Recommended Solution: BondLink
Description
BondLink provides municipal bond issuers with easy-to-use investor relations websites, custom roadshows and investor analytics to help drive demand for their bond sales.
Pros
• Turnkey investor web-relations dynamic website
• Fixed sustainment costs
• Increased investor awareness and investor pool
• Increased public transparency
Cons
• N/A
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Recommended Solution - Project Financial Estimate
COST ESTIMATES FUNDING
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Description Implementation Costs (Hours) Post Implementation Run Costs (Hours)/ KTLO Departmental Funding Amount: $ 0.00 Labor $ (Hours) Internal TS Department: 40 hours 0 Hours Funding Requested (Y/N): Y Business Analysis 15 Hours 0 hours Internal Labor New FTE – Year 1 Costs $0.00 IT Support (Cyber Security & System Analysis) 5 hours 0 hours Project One Time Costs (External) $0.00 TS PMO Implementation 20 hours 0 hours *Total Project Funding Requested for Year 1 $9,700.00 Internal Department: Finance Department 40 hours 36 hours Annual Asset Run Cost $1200.00 External Labor $: $ $ Professional Services $8500.00 $0.00 Non-Labor $ Software: $1200.00 $1200.00 Hardware: $0.00 $0.00 * Total Project Funding Requested Year 1 includes New FTE Labor, External Labor and Non Labor
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Description of Risk Risk Impact (High/Medium/Low) Mitigated (Y/N) Contingency(Y/N) Vendor performance Low N N Cyber Security Low N N Project Team Turnover Low N N Poor Execution Low N N
Risk Identification
Mitigation Risk (Costs)
• N/A
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• N/A Contingency Risk (Costs)
Our ask
We are asking the IT Governance Steering Committee to approve the business case for BondLink to support the municipal bond issuing activities of the city.
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