Economy

New Jersey pharmaceutical maker Theragen Inc. must immediately now pay all of the outstanding principal and accrued interest on its Series 2005 bonds because the borrower has been in default for more than 60 days, according to trustee Bank of Oklahoma NA.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed its A1 issuer credit rating for the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati on watch list for possible downgrade as the system undergoes changes in its corporate structure.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded Resurrection Health Care one notch to BBB-plus due to operating losses.

DALLAS — A team of developers will receive the proceeds of $400 million of private-activity bonds this month to finance one of the most ambitious public-private toll operations in Texas: a $2 billion project known as the North Tarrant Express.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail is the “newest gravy train” in Washington, D.C., with more than 50 public and private groups having registered in the last quarter to lobby for billions of dollars of federal aid — a threefold increase from a year ago, the Center for Public Integrity found in a recent investigation.

The Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance said last week it would issue its first series of recommendations on how to finance city, county, and local roadwork in early 2010. Members said they will offer several options for consideration by the public.

CHICAGO — The Clare at Water Tower, an upscale ­high-rise senior-living community in downtown Chicago that has struggled to meet financial ­projections due to cost ­overruns, construction delays, and ­faltering occupancy rates, drew $554,000 from its debt-service reserves to cover its Nov. 15 debt-service payment.

Connecticut will round out the year with a new public-private partnership for highway service plazas. In December, a consortium will take over operations of 23 service plazas and sink in millions of dollars to upgrade the facilities.

WASHINGTON — Alliance, Ohio, disclosed last week that the Internal Revenue Service has concluded an audit of $50 million of hospital revenue bonds it issued in 2003 with no change to the tax-exempt status.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded Elliot Hospital’s Series 2003B revenue bonds to the triple-B category due to declining liquidity and growing debt levels.

CHICAGO — Smaller urban hospitals are especially vulnerable to fallout from cost-cutting measures that are certain to be part of a final health care reform bill now being debated by Congress, said Moody’s Investors Service.

Fitch Ratings last week stripped the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District’s 2006 sales tax bonds of their investment-grade rating as the issuer is expected to tap debt service reserves to fully cover its April payment.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is watching for an opportunity to refinance nearly $600 million of floating-rate debt, including variable-rate bonds now owned by banks.

WASHINGTON — As infrastructure increasingly plays a key role in investment decisions nationwide, Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray & Co. has expanded its transportation banking team and added to its Northeast staff.

CHICAGO — The board of the Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois late last week approved the issuance of up to $166 million of bonds to free up federal capital funds to help trim a Chicago Transit Authority budget deficit and stave off a fare increase.

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority tomorrow enters the market with its second Build America Bond sale of the year — a $280 million revenue bond issue that marks the final borrowing needed for the agency’s five-year-old $6 billion rebuilding and expansion of the Chicago-area toll highway system.

With the Thanksgiving holiday on the menu, issuers, underwriters, and bankers have very few deals scheduled to take place during the shortened trading week.

Bond offering documents for the controversial Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn will go to the issuer’s board for approval tomorrow. If approved, the bonds may be sold before the end of the year and the proceeds put into escrow while ongoing legal challenges continue in the courts.

The New York State Thruway Authority last week passed a $1.2 billion 2010 operating budget with no plans to issue general revenue bonds in 2010, the third year in row it will not sell long-term debt on its own credit.

Massachusetts officials selected four investment firms to work on refinancing $800 million of fixed-rate Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt into variable-rate mode.