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Fitch Corrects Various Ratings on Kansas City, Missouri.


CHICAGO -- As described in the Rating Action Commentary dated June 25, 2009, Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings

An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris.
 downgraded the long-term rating assigned to Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Missouri's general obligation (GO) bonds to 'AA+' from 'AAA', and also downgraded the city's appropriation-supported bonds to 'AA-' from 'AA'. The Rating Outlook on all debt was revised to Stable. However, in the course of taking this rating action, an error was found in the rating on Fitch's web site for several bonds as detailed below. The full rating history is now available on Fitch Ratings' web site.

While Fitch considered the following parity bonds in its analysis and affirmed the all outstanding GO bonds in its previous commentaries, these bonds did not have an explicit rating assignment. Therefore, Fitch explicitly assigns a rating to the ensuing en·sue  
intr.v. en·sued, en·su·ing, en·sues
1. To follow as a consequence or result. See Synonyms at follow.

2. To take place subsequently.
 bonds as follows:

--Kansas City (MO) GO refunding bonds series 1998 rated 'AA+, Outlook Stable;

--Kansas City (MO) (Chouteau Bridge) GO bonds series 1996B rated 'AA+', Outlook Stable;

--Kansas City Municipal Assistance Corp. (MO) leasehold revenue bonds series 1999A rated 'AA-', Outlook Stable ;

--Kansas City Industrial Development Authority (MO) (Century Towers Project) revenue bonds series 2001, rated 'AA-', Outlook Stable.

While the following bonds were downgraded to 'AA-' from 'AA' on June 25, 2009, the rating action was not reflected on Fitch's website. The full rating history is now available on Fitch's web site.

--Kansas City (MO) (MCI (1) (Media Control Interface) A high-level programming interface from Microsoft and IBM for controlling multimedia devices. It provides commands and functions to open, play and close the device.

(2) (Microwave Communications Inc.
 Overhaul Base Project) special facility revenue bonds series 2005G, rated 'AA-', Outlook Stable;

--Kansas City Industrial Development Authority (MO) (Civic Mall Project) refunding & improvement revenue bonds series 2006C, rated 'AA-', Outlook Stable;

--Kansas City Industrial Development Authority (MO) (Kansas City Uptown Theatre The Uptown Theatre may refer to:
  • Uptown Theatre (Chicago)
  • Uptown Theatre (Toronto)
  • The Uptown Theater in Minneapolis
  • The Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
See also
 and Midtown mid·town  
n.
A central portion of a city, between uptown and downtown.


midtown
Noun

US & Canad the centre of a town
 Redevelopment Projects) infrastructure facilities revenue refunding bonds series 2007A, rated 'AA-', Outlook Stable.

Additionally, the rating action commentary dated June 25 inadvertently referenced the outstanding par value of all Kansas City special obligation bonds, although the 'AA-' long-term rating only applies to the following bonds:

--Kansas City (MO) (Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri. It encompasses parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest in Missouri, which includes counties in both Missouri and Kansas.  Projects) special obligation improvement & refunding bonds series 2008A;

--Kansas City (MO) (East Village Project) special obligation bonds series 2008B;

--Kansas City (MO) (Downtown Arena The Downtown Arena is a proposed Arena in downtown El Paso, Texas. If constructed it is expected to have a capacity of more than 17,000. Making it the biggest arena in West Texas, Ciudad Juarez and Southern New Mexico, and making it the biggest arena in El Paso above the Don Haskins  Project) special obligation refunding bonds series 2008C;

--Kansas City (MO) Downtown Arena Project) special obligation refunding bonds series 2008D;

--Kansas City (MO) (Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre.  Garage Project) special obligation bonds series 2009E.

The total outstanding par of special obligations rated based on the general credit characteristics of the city is approximately $147.7 million, rather than the $416 million referenced in the original commentary. Series 2008E, 2008F, 2009A, 2009B, 2009C, and 2009D are all excluded from the underlying rating and downgrade since the ratings are based on letters of credit.

Fitch also withdraws the ratings on the following bonds as the bond sale was canceled.

--Kansas City (MO) (Kansas City, Missouri - Century Towers Project) taxable special obligation refunding bonds series 2008A;

--Kansas City (MO) (Kansas City, Missouri - Century Towers Project) taxable special obligation refunding bonds series 2008B.

For more information, see the Fitch rating action commentary dated June 25, 2009, 'Fitch Downgrades Kansas City, Missouri's GOs to 'AA+'; Rates Appropriation Bonds AA-', available on the Fitch web site at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used.

In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide.
 of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 'www.fitchratings.com'. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental  are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.
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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jul 10, 2009
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