Prospect News reports six new defaults for Sept. 29-Oct. 5; S&P two

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Oct. 7 – Prospect News reported six new defaults for the period of Sept. 29 through Oct. 5.

Specifically, Prospect News reported Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings filed by Murphy Energy Corp., Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc. and Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., Portugal Telecom International Finance BV’s suspension of payments, a missed interest payment on Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC’s 7 7/8% senior notes due 2020 and a missed principal and interest payment on Latina Offshore Holding Ltd.’s 10% callable senior secured bonds due Sept. 30, 2016.

So far this year, Prospect News has reported 181 defaults, including 86 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings, 41 missed interest payments, nine missed principal and interest payments, eight missed principal payments, seven Chapter 15 bankruptcy filings, four each of Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act filings, Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings and missed interest payments paid within the grace period, three restructurings, two each of insolvencies, administrations and CBCA filings and one each of judicial management requests, schemes of arrangement, plans of arrangement, debt arrangements, missed interest payments paid late, liquidations, mandataire ad hoc appointments, suspensions of payments and homologacions.

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings reported two new defaults for the week, increasing its year-to-date default tally to 132. S&P said that tally is 55% higher than the count at this time in 2015 and has surpassed the total number of defaults recorded in full-year 2015.

The last time the global tally was higher at this point in the year was in 2009, when it reached 233 during the financial crisis, S&P said.

One of S&P’s latest defaults was confidential.

In addition, S&P lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on Postmedia Network Inc. to SD from CC following the issuer’s announcement that it completed a recapitalization transaction under which noteholders received less than the original par value.

Of the 132 defaulters so far in 2016, S&P said 48 issuers defaulted because of missed principal and/or interest payments, 35 because of distressed exchanges, 16 upon bankruptcy filings, 13 were confidential, seven because of debt exchanges, six upon de facto restructurings, two because of deferred interest payments, and one each defaulted because of debt acceleration, distressed restructuring, judicial reorganization, regulatory intervention and a debt moratorium.

The ratings agency said the United States leads with 87, or 66% of the defaults so far in 2016, with 24 from emerging markets, 11 from the other developed nations, which includes Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand, and 10 from Europe.

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