Fortress-backed Florida rail firm warns of construction delay

Brightline Holdings, the Florida rail company backed by Fortress Investment Group, delayed its expected completion of an expansion to Orlando to next year and warned it may push it back further if it can’t raise capital over the next few weeks.

“Substantial completion” of the construction is now in early 2023, according to the company’s filings to bondholders Wednesday, compared with the estimate of late 2022 in the previous updates.

Brightline has an August 31 deadline to issue $500 million of the private activity bonds awarded by the US Department of Transportation. “In the coming weeks, we plan to issue this debt, and/or raise other capital sufficient to fund completion of remaining project construction as well as additional reserves,” the company said in its filing.

With fixed income markets in turmoil, Brightline has had trouble securing long-term term financing recently. In June, the company rolled over short-term securities instead of issuing long-term debt to finance the train project because it couldn’t find enough of such investors.

“If the company is unable to timely raise such additional financing, the company may decide to curtail or delay certain construction activities,” Brightline said in its monthly construction update.

Brightline had already sold $2.7 billion of unrated tax-free debt for the $6 billion project that began service in 2018 from Miami. A bond due in 2049 traded July 15 at an average yield of 7.4%, near its highest since last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company is working on extending operations to Tampa from Miami for a total of 320 miles (515 kilometers). Brightline is also planning a line connecting Las Vegas to southern California.