Brightline West Says Private Credit Lenders Interested in Funding Senior Project Debt

Brightline West, or BLW, representatives said on an investor call this afternoon that the company has received interest from private credit lenders regarding the $4 billion of senior debt to be issued as part of the company’s $21.05 billion financing plan for its planned 218-mile rail system connecting Las Vegas and Southern California. The company indicated that the private credit interest was in addition to the previously disclosed bank consortium interest and reiterated that the funding would rank pari passu with an expected $6 billion U.S. Department of Transportation Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing, or RRIF, program loan, described as the “anchor” of the project’s finance plan. “We’re encouraged by this additional interest for this portion of the project finance and hope to benefit from a competitive process in arranging this portion of the overall financing plan,” said BLW’s Mike Reininger. Asked for more details about the potential private credit funding, Reininger said there is “significant interest” from a new source that is “very sizable” and introduced “competitive tension” as the company attempts to arrange the $4 billion tranche of the finance plan. Ken Nicholson, a managing director at BLW sponsor Fortress Investment Group, added that the interest from the[...]