(The following appeared on the Kansas City Star website on December 17.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Kansas City Southern agreed to pay 13 percent on $190 million in new five-year notes and markets applauded.
Shares in the railroad company were up nearly 20 percent today, closing at $20.21, up $3.37.
The jump came the day after it told investors it sold the notes and that because investors got a discount price on the notes, their yield on the investment will be 16.5 percent. The rail transportation company sold the notes to help repurchase $200 million of other senior notes due next year and paying 7.5 percent.
The jump came on a day in which the markets in general were down modestly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 99.80, or 1.21 percent, to 8,824.34, after falling as many as 146 points earlier in the session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 8.76, or 0.96 percent, to 904.42, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 10.58, or 0.67 percent, to 1,579.31.
Among Kansas City area companies of interest Cerner Corp. closed at $38.84, down 55 cents. Commerce Bancshares Inc. closed at $42.39, down $1.40, while Euronet Worldwide closed at $10.98, up 88 cents or 8.71 percent.
DST Systems Inc. closed at $38.99, up 41 cents. H&R Block Inc. closed at $22.01, up 12 cents and YRC Worldwide Inc. closed at $4.45, up 21 cents.