Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. state and local government borrowers seeking to push through delayed bond sales by year’s end drove a measure of pending offerings to the highest in more than six years, sending yields higher.

The Bond Buyer’s visible-supply index of new municipal issues to be offered over the next 30 days reached $21.3 billion yesterday, the highest since October 2002 and about 55 percent higher than its 12-month average. The University of Chicago, with a $500 million offering, leads tax-exempt borrowers planning to sell bonds as soon as today.

The prospect of municipal issuers pressing forward with deals has in part driven borrowing costs higher at a time when investors have been shunning all but the safest U.S. government assets. Yields on the highest rated 30-year general obligation bonds rose to 5.58 percent, a record 176 percent of the yield on comparable-maturity Treasuries, according to data compiled by Municipal Market Advisors and Bloomberg.

“So many deals have been postponed, and these borrowers still want to access the market,” said Paul Brennan, who oversees about $12 billion in municipal-bond funds for Nuveen Asset Management in Chicago. “People are lining up at the door to bring deals, but there’s only so many that can get done.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy R. Cooke in New York at jcooke8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 3, 2008 07:15 EST