A Rare Muni-Bond Cinderella Story for Stifel’s Namesake Theater

Stifel Financial Corp. is turning into a bond market fairy godmother for a St. Louis concert hall and theater that bears its name.

That’s because the bank is bringing to market a rare form of municipal debt known as a Cinderella bond because the interest paid to investors can change from taxable to tax-free at a specified time in the future. It’s doing that to seize on current interest rates to refinance debt used to redevelop the opera house now known as the Stifel Theatre, which sat vacant for years in the bank’s hometown of St. Louis.

Analysts speculated ...