Publicly traded bankruptcies climb to 78 in 2007, tracking site reports

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Jan. 16 - Bankruptcydata.com reported that 78 publicly traded companies filed for bankruptcy in 2007, increasing from 66 filings in 2006, but "way off the high of 263 bankruptcies recorded in 2001," according to a news release.

In addition, the Boston-based web site that tracks business bankruptcies said the total pre-bankruptcy assets of publicly traded companies in bankruptcy jumped in 2007 to $70.526 billion from $22.258 billion in 2006, with the five largest 2007 filings made by companies in the mortgage and banking industry.

Specifically, New Century Mortgage Corp. topped the list of the largest 2007 filings and ranked ninth on the list of all-time largest bankruptcies.

The rest of the top five 2007 filings included American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.; HomeBanc Corp.; Delta Financial Corp.; and NetBank, Inc.

Non-mortgage and banking companies rounding out the top 10 included Movie Gallery, Inc.; Remy International, Inc.; Pope & Talbot, Inc.; InSight Health Services Holdings Corp.; and Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp.

According to the release, the PACER Service Center, the Federal Judiciary's centralized registration, billing and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy and Appellate court records, reported that the total number of public and private business bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ended in September was 25,925, compared with 27,333 through Sept. 30, 2006.

"While the number of publicly-traded bankruptcies in 2007 remained relatively low by historical standards, we expect that number to rise significantly in 2008," George Putnam, III of New Generation Research said in the release.

"There has been a huge amount of corporate debt issued over the last several years, much of it predicated on assumptions of continued economic growth and abundant liquidity.

"The liquidity picture has changed dramatically over the last half of 2007, which by itself should lead to a substantial increase in defaults and bankruptcies. If the economy weakens as well, that will boost the default rate even further."

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