Puerto Rico Draws Investor Demand Even Without Credit Ratings

Puerto Rico has yet to regain an investment-grade rating more than a year after it exited bankruptcy, but some municipal-bond buyers are still eager to bet on the island.

The US commonwealth ended its record bankruptcy in March 2022, slashing $22 billion down to $7.4 billion after restructuring its sales-tax bonds, called Cofinas, in 2019. There’s ample investor appetite for the debt even though the securities are unrated, Bryce Pickering, a managing director at Barclays Plc, said Friday during the PRNOW conference in Manhattan.

“If you’re an investor and you have $25 million Cofinas and you put them out ...