(Canada.com posted the following Canadian Press article on March 5.)
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway announced plans Wednesday to refinance about $250 million US in debt coming due in May through the issue of new lower-interest notes maturing in 10 years.
The Montreal-based company will issue $400 million US worth of notes paying 4.4 per cent interest – more than two percentage points below the old rate. The proceeds will repay $150 million US of 10-year notes, bearing 6.625 per cent interest, issued by Canadian National and $100 million US of 6.75 per cent notes issued by its Illinois Central subsidiary. Both sets of notes are due May 15.
The excess money raised by the refinancing will be used to repay outstanding short-term debt issued by CN. Lead managers of the debt offering are Banc of America Securities LLC and Salomon Smith Barney, two major U.S. brokerages.
Canadian National Railway spans Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific and south through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico.