Moody’s upgrades Virgin Islands Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation bonds

The Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority said on August 23, 2020, that Moody’s Investors Service had upgraded the tobacco settlement revenue securitization bonds of the Virgin Islands Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation.

The Series 2001 bonds were raised to A1 from A3. The authority said Moody’s cited further deleveraging and the availability of cash reserves as the main reasons for the upgrade.

The Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation was established under the Tobacco Settlement Financing Act of 2001 as an independent public corporation to purchase the Virgin Islands’ interest in tobacco settlement proceeds under the Master Settlement Agreement and issue bonds backed by those revenues.

According to the statement, bond proceeds were used to finance hospital and Health Department capital projects, including the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute on St. Thomas and the V.I. Cardiac Center on St. Croix, and to cover the corporation’s operating costs.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/moodys-upgrades-vi-tobacco-settlement-financing-corporation-bonds/