The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) sold $361 million in bonds to finance improvements to road infrastructure in the center of the Sunshine State.
The authority issued $145.4 million in Series A bonds and $215.6 million in Series B bonds. The Series A bonds mature between 2025 and 2054, yielding between 2.94% and 4.06%. The Series B bonds mature between 2029 and 2035, yielding between 2.95% and 3.21%. All of the bonds pay interest at 5%.
The securities received an underlying rating of A1 from Moody’s Investors Service and AA- from S&P Global Ratings, which assigned an insured rating of AA. Moody’s revised the authority’s outlook to positive from stable.
The revision “reflects our view that CFX’s importance as a regional transportation network continues to grow and that revenue increases will outweigh the negative impacts from capital needs,” Moody’s analysts wrote.
The expressway authority will use the issuance proceeds to fund its capital improvement plan. CFX’s five-year work plan, which runs from fiscal year 2025 through FY 2029, includes 181 projects that the authority estimates will cost a combined $4.17 billion, according to the official statement accompanying the sale of the bonds.
CFX runs almost 1,000 lane miles of toll roads in the Orlando area. The bonds are limited obligations of the expressway authority, secured by revenue it has pledged toward debt service.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as lead underwriter on the issuance, purchasing the bonds for $404.5 million. The price reflected a premium of $44.6 million and a discount of $1.2 million. PFM Financial Advisors LLC acted as municipal advisor.