Brightline sees strong demand for investment-grade debut

Brightline, Florida's privately owned passenger train system, hit the tax-exempt market Thursday, after weeks of marketing, with more than $3.1 billion of low-investment grade and unrated bonds. The company enjoyed strong demand for all the paper, which was more than two times oversubscribed and saw more than 50 accounts vying for the investment-grade piece, according to investors. An investment-grade bond due in 2053 with a 5.5% coupon yielded 5.15% with a 124 basis-point spread — down from 5.25% and a 134bps spread in preliminary pricing. For investors willing to take the risk, the unrated bonds offered a 12% coupon and 12.6% yield.

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The recent slew of prepaid energy bond issues in the Southeast continues to revive interest in the sector as demand remains strong for the tax-exempt paper. "Prepaid gas bonds can provide supply with good credit quality and structure," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

Nominations are open for the next class of Bond Buyer Rising Stars and the third class of Muni Hall of Famers.

The Mayo Clinic has ambitious plans that start at home. When the Rochester, Minnesota-based nonprofit healthcare system updated its five-year plan last year, it said the move was part of a "strategy to transform healthcare globally." The update reflected changes from a $5 billion expansion of Mayo's flagship Rochester campus. Mayo's board of trustees approved the strategic expansion initiative in November. The expansion, which represents Mayo's biggest capital investment ever, is scheduled to break ground later this year.

Learn more about the trends impacting the industry in The Bond Buyer’s annual review of municipal bond market statistics.

The city of Quincy, Massachusetts, issued $10 million of tax-exempt bonds using blockchain technology. On Thursday, Quincy, in conjunction with J.P. Morgan, said it issued the first bond in the United States on a platform using distributed ledger technology, which is a collection of digital systems that record transactions in multiple locations almost simultaneously.

Read the newest research from The Bond Buyer detailing the public finance industry’s views of the risks and opportunities in 2024.

Take a look at the scenes captured last week at The Bond Buyer’s Texas Public Finance event in Austin.

Watch what the municipal bond industry’s innovators and influencers are saying in our Leaders series of video interviews. Check out our lineup of future live interviews and archived conversations.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelley vetoed tax cut legislation that she called “too expensive” and offered lawmakers a less-costly alternative. The Democratic governor, who in January vetoed a previous tax reduction bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislation, said the latest measure “jeopardizes our state’s future fiscal stability.”?

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