Like Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s famous play “Waiting for Godot,” distressed investors have spent a substantial amount of time awaiting the arrival of their own mysterious figure: the next distressed cycle. Over the past decade, this elusive Godot has failed to materialize, despite...
Having spent the past 18 years at SB360 Capital Partners (formerly SB Capital Group), I can say with certainty that the turnaround industry has evolved. What surprises me most is how we have been forced to change our own industry, even though at times it didn’t seem broken. But if you think about...
The past few years have brought a number of large rights offerings in bankruptcies in the energy, healthcare, and retail sectors. Between January 1, 2015, and December 1, 2017, more than $5.5 billion was raised through rights offerings or private placements in more than two dozen large bankruptcy...
The distressed investor considers investing in securities of companies that are either in bankruptcy or are approaching bankruptcy. Typically, these companies have outstanding claims greater than the value of the assets and are experiencing difficulty in servicing their debt. There is a real...
In the robust financing environment of 2017, commercial bankruptcies leveled off from credit-crisis highs. Through the first three quarters of 2017, commercial bankruptcies totaled 17,371, a significant decline from the 2009 peak year, when 45,510 commercial bankruptcies were filed in the first...
Corporate distress is rarely a surprise to participants in the capital structure, and it usually rears its ugly head over a series of unfortunate events. Customer losses, an unfavorable shift in industry dynamics, delayed G&A cuts, covenant breaches, and dwindling liquidity are just a small...
Distressed investors often spend hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars conducting diligence, negotiating transaction documents, and participating in uncertain auction and legal proceedings. The process is not for the faint of heart. A distressed investor may end up with the proverbial...
