Prospect News marks two new defaults for Dec. 22 to Dec. 28, S&P none

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Dec. 30 - Prospect News reported two new defaults for the week of Dec. 22 to Dec. 28 in the form of a missed interest and principal payment by Syncora Holdings Ltd. and a Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act filing made by Crystallex International Corp. in Canada.

Specifically, Syncora missed payments on the $150 million original principal amount of short-term surplus notes issued by subsidiary Syncora Guarantee Inc.

Prospect News also reported a Dec. 22 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from Ahern Rentals, Inc. and a Dec. 22 distressed exchange by Dune Energy, Inc.

Ahern and Dune had both previously defaulted.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's reported no default for the week, leaving its year-to-date default tally at 51 issuers.

The ratings agency said that 21 of this year's defaults resulted from missed interest or principal payments and 12 from bankruptcy filings, both of which were among the top reasons for defaults in 2010.

Distressed exchanges, another top reason for defaults in 2010, have followed this year with 10 defaults.

Of the remaining 2011 defaults, S&P said two issuers failed to finalize refinancing on bank loans, another two were subject to regulatory action, one had its banking license revoked by its country's central bank, another was appointed a receiver, and two were confidential.

Of the total defaulters this year, S&P said 37 are based in the United States, four are based in New Zealand, three are in Canada, and one each is in the Czech Republic, Greece, France, Israel, Italy, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

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