Community Health Systems Inc., one of the largest publicly traded hospital chains in the U.S., said it has retained a stable of investment banks to help refinance over $3 billion of debt coming due in the next two years, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Tennessee-based company hired Lazard Freres, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan for the effort. Community Health is struggling to stay out of bankruptcy as it faces those debt maturities, and as its revenue, earnings and patient admissions slide. The company has a total of $13.8 billion in debt, but the immediate worry is $3.2 billion in bonds coming due in 2019 and 2020. With unsecured bonds trading at deep discounts, the only way for the company to refinance those bonds is to engage in a distressed debt exchange, offering holders to swap those bonds for new secured bonds with longer maturities, said two bondholders.
