S&P: Fallen angel tally grows to 34 issuers; finance firms lead pack

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, April 15 - Standard & Poor's said that the number of fallen angels accelerated during the past month with 17 issuers downgraded to speculative grade.

This is nearly triple the average of six fallen angels per month during the previous 12 months, according to the agency.

Fallen angels are issuers downgraded to speculative grade, or BB+ and lower, from investment grade, or BBB- and higher, whereas rising stars move in the opposite direction, the agency noted.

This month's tally of fallen angels is the highest since the Asian financial crisis more than 11 years ago, when 19 issuers were downgraded to speculative grade in December 1997.

The year-to-date fallen angel tally is 34 issuers, affecting rated debt worth $114.82 billion.

"By count, finance companies lead this year's fallen angels with six entities so far in 2009," Diane Vazza, head of S&P's global fixed-income research group, said in a statement.

"This is followed by banks with four entities and media and entertainment, insurance, forest products and building materials, and homebuilders/real estate companies with three entities each," Vazza said.

S&P said there are 69 issuers with BBB- ratings with either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. The issuers have a total of $250.11 billion in rated debt. Of these issuers, nine are banks, eight are consumer product companies and seven are utilities.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.