Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP represented Brightline Trains Florida as bond counsel on a $3.2 billion issuance of tax-exempt private activity bonds, earning The Bond Buyer’s 2024 Innovative Financing Deal of the Year. The deal’s structure included over $2.2 billion of investment grade tax-exempt bonds, $1.3 billion of taxable parent company notes, $925 million of tax-exempt bonds at the holding company level and other sources of capital, refinancing the company’s debt across three liens, and “achieving a new standard for multi-modal transit funding,” according to The Bond Buyer.
The Brightline recapitalization represents the largest private-activity bond issuance and first investment-grade debt for American high-speed rail. The Bond Buyer notes that, “[b]y attracting a diverse investor base, Brightline’s deal opens new avenues for large-scale infrastructure projects in a traditionally underserved financing sector.”
Brightline’s rail service, connecting Miami to Orlando, is the first privately owned and operated intercity passenger rail system built in the United States in a century.
The Bond Buyer Deal of the Year Awards recognize outstanding achievements in municipal finance transactions throughout the year. As recipient of the Innovative Financing Deal of the Year, the Brightline recapitalization also is eligible for the national Deal of the Year Award, to be announced at the awards ceremony Dec. 3. This marks the third consecutive year Greenberg Traurig has been recognized for its role in transactions winning one of The Bond Buyer’s Deal of the Year awards, and is among the latest recognitions for Greenberg Traurig’s Public Finance & Infrastructure Practice after ranking No. 6 on The Bond Buyer’s list of top bond counsel in the nation during the first half of 2024, with 72 transactions totaling $8.13 billion.
The Greenberg Traurig team advising Brightline was led by Public Finance & Infrastructure Shareholder Ben McGuire in Boston, and included Public Finance & Infrastructure and Tax Shareholder Vanessa Albert Lowry in Philadelphia and Public Finance & Infrastructure Associate Jason Gonzalez in Miami, with support from Environmental Shareholder Kerri L. Barsh in Miami, Public Finance & Infrastructure Shareholder Albert A. del Castillo in Miami, and Tax Shareholder Marvin A. Kirsner in Fort Lauderdale.
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