Competitive Underwriting

A sale of municipal securities by an issuer in which underwriters or syndicates of underwriters submit sealed bids (or oral auction bids) to purchase the securities. The securities are won and purchased by the underwriter or syndicate of underwriters which submits the best bid according to guidelines in the notice of sale. This is contrasted with a negotiated underwriting.

Remarks: Bond funds including mutual funds (open-end and closed-end, actively managed and indexed), exchange-traded funds and unit investment trusts offer a convenient and affordable way to invest in a diversified portfolio of bonds, but a bond fund investment can differ from a bond investment in ways that are important to understand.