Defaults

Debt holder losses on defaulted debt were in line with Moody’s Investor Service predictions, a new analysis of hundreds of bankruptcies by the credit ratings agency showed. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

High-yield market guru Martin Fridson’s latest statistical deep dive this week reveals a strange paradox: secured bonds are much more likely than unsecured bonds to end up trading at distressed levels. Fridson, chief investment officer at Lehmann Livian Fridson Advisors, finds that secured bonds account for 40.2% of distressed bonds (bonds trading with risk premiums of at least 10 percentage points over comparable Treasury bonds) outstanding even though they make up just 18.6% of the overall high-yield bond universe.

The nation’s largest municipal-bankruptcy case is set for a showdown trial starting Tuesday, pitting the city’s emergency manager against holdout creditors seeking billions in payouts, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s brokerage is asking a U.S. court to reconsider its ruling affirming Barclays PLC’s right to billions of dollars in disputed assets, saying the decision throws into question the integrity of bankruptcy sales. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review story in the Wall Street Journal. 

Daehan Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Monday in New York, seeking to shield its U.S. assets from efforts to collect a $54.5 million judgment. Read the story in the Daily Bankruptcy Review.