Brightline gets $190M of interim bankruptcy financing

Brightline sells intercity passenger rail travel across a 235-mile corridor between Miami and Orlando, serving six stations from downtown South Florida to Orlando International Airport. On September 29, a New Jersey bankruptcy judge gave its Florida operating company interim access to $190 million under a $257.7 million senior secured facility while affiliated holding companies reorganize in Chapter 11.

The railroad itself is not a debtor. Brightline Trains Florida owns or controls the tracks, stations, trains and maintenance facilities behind the service and runs as many as 36 one-way trains a day. In a court declaration, management said trailing-12-month ridership reached 3.6 million through July, even though ridership and revenue had materially lagged the original forecasts used when the company borrowed.

Brightline Trains Florida is the borrower, while debtor BLTF Holdings pledges the operator’s equity as collateral. The interim order makes $190 million available but does not establish that Brightline drew the money. The remaining $67.7 million requires a final order and satisfaction of the note agreement’s conditions.

This facility is separate from the proposed $490 million of long-term exit capital announced on September 25, comprising $140 million of senior debt and $350 million of junior debt. Assured Guaranty said the exit package would support operations and repay the post-petition financing, so adding the two totals would overstate the new cash remaining in the railroad.

The structure is intended to keep ticketed service running while the parent balance sheet is reworked. Management attributed the Chapter 11 filing to holding-company leverage and debt deadlines after slower-than-projected results left debt-service reserves insufficient. The operator’s cash can support both rail operations and limited intercompany loans for bankruptcy administration.

CK Opportunities Fund had objected, arguing that the proposed priming liens and replacement protections did not adequately protect its collateral. The final financing hearing is scheduled for October 29, when access to the remaining $67.7 million will still depend on a final order and the facility’s conditions.