Moody’s Investors Service said that U.S. oil bankruptcies haven’t been this “catastrophic” for lenders in a long time, in what may be the worst bust of any industry this century, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Creditors are recovering an average 21 percent of what they lent, compared with about 59 percent in past decades, the credit-rating agency said yesterday in a report that looks into lending to 15 exploration and production companies that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015. That may be on par with, or worse than, the telecommunications industry collapse in 2001 and 2002, the study led by David Keisman said. High-yield bonds recovered a mere 6 percent, compared to 30 percent in previous years going back to 1987. Defaults in the oil and natural gas industry have been rising through a market slump that has exceeded two years as companies lacked the cash to make interest payments on their debt. Bankruptcies among U.S. producers so far this year are about twice the number among companies rated by Moody’s in all of 2015, the report said. The oil and gas figures have helped propel U.S. corporate defaults to the highest since 2009. Read more.
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The mediator trying to resolve the $18 billion bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc. (CEOC) abruptly stepped down on Friday, Reuters reported. CEOC filed for bankruptcy in January 2015 amid creditor accusations that its parent Caesars Entertainment Corp. and private equity sponsors Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital had stripped it of its best assets. Retired U.S. Judge Joseph Farnan was tasked in March to help the feuding parties reach a settlement and lift CEOC out of bankruptcy. "I'm convinced that I can't continue and possibly a new mediator will be able to establish a workable process," Farnan said in a letter published in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy court in Chicago. It was not immediately clear who, if anyone, would take over his role. Read more.
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