Brightline Bond Prices Rose in Retail Trades After Downgrade

Some investors bought Brightline Trains Florida LLC’s municipal bonds at what appear to be above-market prices after the struggling passenger railroad’s debt was downgraded five notches deeper into junk on Friday by S&P Global Ratings.

• Large blocks of Brightline’s 2053 bonds were sold to customers for as much as 76.5 cents on the dollar several hours after the downgrade was announced; the bonds traded at 72 cents in similar trades on Dec. 15 ahead of the downgrade
• The price on Monday slipped back to an average of 65 cents on smaller-size trades
• Chad Farrington, co-head of municipal-bond strategy at ...