Missouri

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will refund $142 million of bonds this week in a deal that marks the final under the fiscal stewardship of treasurer Karl Tyminski.

The Missouri Development Finance Board recently approved $17 million in borrowing that will help pave the way for construction to begin next month on the long-planned, but stalled, Ballpark Village project adjacent to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium.

Missouri economic development officials failed to conduct sufficient due diligence on the bond-financed artificial sweetener plant abandoned last year by a Chinese company, according to a new state audit.

An auction is set for next month of the assets of the bond-financed, half-built artificial sweetener plant in Moberly, Missouri that was abandoned by its developer last year.

Alleging theft and securities fraud, local and state prosecutors in Missouri and federal regulators took aim Tuesday at the former head of the company that last year abandoned a half-built artificial sweetener plant financed with $39 million of debt backed by the city of Moberly.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and local prosecutors announced the filing of criminal charges that includes securities fraud Tuesday against the former chief executive officer of Mamtek US., the company that abandoned a half-built bond-financed plant in Moberly.

One of the Midwest's top bond counsel firms, Missouri-based Gilmore & Bell has opened a new Nebraska office in Omaha, staffed by a trio of public finance attorneys who join the firm from competitor Baird Holm LLP.

St. Louis-based Ascension Health Alliance is advancing plans to acquire Oklahoma-based Marian Health System, the parent of three regional not-for-profit healthcare organizations in the mid and central states.

Top-rated Missouri will take competitive bids Tuesday on its long-planned $164 million general obligation refunding that will achieve double-digit savings and provide some budgetary relief.

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating on Brentwood School District, Mo., two notches to A-plus. The outlook is stable. The district has no near-term borrowing plans.

Local communities in eight states with a stake in the controversial mostly bond-financed Prairie State Energy coal project in Illinois could face fiscal stress due to the higher than projected rates they are paying and future financial risks, a new report from an pro-environmental group warns.

Kansas City, Mo., voters overwhelmingly approved a $500 million sewer bond referendum to help pay for projects under a $2.5 billion federal consent decree.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will take retail orders Wednesday and price on Thursday $225 million of revenue bonds in the first installment of a $945 million bond referendum to fund projects under a $4.7 billion consent decree.

The Missouri Development Finance Board has advanced plans to issue $4.1 million of bonds to support Wells Fargo Advisors' $33 million plan to expand its downtown St. Louis campus.

Kansas City, Missouri voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide a $500 million sewer bond authorization to finance projects required under a $2.5 billion federal consent decree.

The trustee for $39 million of appropriation revenue bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plant in Moberly Missouri has decided to give up on efforts to sell the half built plant to a new developer and now intends to auction off the project's assets this fall.

The Joplin School District borrows $35 million Tuesday to kick into high gear its rebuilding effort following last year's devastating tornado.

Struggling to repay $113 million in debt that financed its privately-owned and operated airport in Missouri's Ozark Mountains, Branson Airport LLC has won a reprieve against enforcement actions from bondholders in the form of an extended forbearance agreement.

Top-rated Washington University in St. Louis will sell about $200 million of taxable new-money and refunding bonds on Wednesday,

Top-rated Missouri - a rare borrower - will take competitive bids this summer on two refunding deals that will achieve significant present-value savings and provide $44 million in fiscal 2013 budget relief.