And the second half of the year is touted to be even worse. What stress is this placing on banks which hold their debt???. Oye!
Most investors are aware that there is significant carnage in the oil patch. Low energy prices caught overleveraged companies off guard, and it’s forced many of these companies to seek protection from their creditors through bankruptcy.
However, the pace of new bankruptcies is accelerating fast, and now bigger companies are being affected. This week’s chart shows that the 11 new bankruptcies in April 2016 carry a substantial debt load of nearly $15 billion – most of which is unsecured.
A quick look at the data, which we pulled from Haynes and Boone, LLP, tells the tale:
| New Bankruptcies | Total Debt | Avg. Debt Per Company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2016 | 3 | $32,000,000 | $10,666,667 |
| February 2016 | 6 | $280,000,000 | $46,666,667 |
| March 2016 | 7 | $1,840,000,000 | $262,857,143 |
| April 2016 | 11 | $14,920,000,000 | $1,356,363,636 |
In the first two months of 2016, there were nine bankruptcie
