Distressed Debt Exchange Overview 2020 – November 2023 | PDF

Debtwire’s Distressed Debt Exchange Overview summarizes debt-for-debt and debt-for‑equity exchanges, while also covering discounted debt repurchases. Our analysis breaks down implied premiums for the exchanges and the trading levels of the newly-issued debt.

The latest report comprises distressed transactions completed by 19 companies in 2019, 37 companies in 2020, 13 companies in 2021, 18 companies in 2022 and 34 companies year-to-date in 2023. We recorded eight additional distressed transactions in the current report. In October, Pretium Packaging exchanged USD 1.3bn of debt at an average exchange ratio of 94%, while Save-A-Lot executed below-par exchange of approximately USD 303m of first and second lien borrowings (in November) for USD 351m (first lien) PIK subject to at least 2% cash interest until maturity.

Carvana remains the largest distressed debt exchange year-to-date in 2023, of USD 5.5bn at an average exchange ratio of about 83%. Lumen Technologies executed discounted transactions, exchanging USD 1.6bn of unsecured debt at an average ratio of 67%. Bausch Health Companies and Rite Aid were the most active companies in 2022. Bausch Health Companies exchanged approximately USD 5.6bn of unsecured notes for USD 3.1bn of secured borrowings, implying an exchange ratio of 56%. Rite Aid repurchased debt at an average price of 70. Peabody Energy and Voyager Aviation Holdings executed the largest debt exchanges in 2021, of USD 1bn and USD 409m, respectively, at average exchange rates of 89% and 84%, respectively. In 2020, AMC Entertainment and Transocean had the highest average exchange ratios of 73% and 54%, respectively.