Holiday weighs on market liquidity but distressed debt holds steady; TXU bonds actively quoted

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Nov. 27 - It was "an unchanged kind of day" for the distressed debt market, a trader said Wednesday.

Activity levels were thin as well, given the holidays.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc.'s 6% notes due 2019 were holding in at 873/4, according to a trader. Caesars Entertainment Corp.'s 10% notes due 2018 were also holding steady at 461/2.

Even NII Holdings Inc.'s 7 5/8% notes due 2021 were holding in at 401/2.

However, other NII Holdings paper continued to soften. The 8 7/8% notes due 2019 dipped nearly 1½ points to 42 and the 10% notes due 2016 declined "close to 2 points" to 523/4.

A trader noted that Energy Future Holdings Corp. bonds were being actively quoted. Just days earlier, Berkshire Hathaway had announced that it had unloaded about a third of its bond holdings in the company.

The trader saw the 10% notes due 2020 at 106 bid, 106½ offered, the 11¼% notes due 2018 at 73 bid, 74 offered, the 11¾% notes due 2022 at 116 bid, 117 offered and the 15% notes due 2021 at 28 bid, 29 offered.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the investment firm managed by Warren Buffett said that it had sold about $615 million of its $1.8 billion of debt linked to Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Co. LLC.

The Dallas-based energy producer made a $270 million interest payment on Nov. 1, giving the company time to reevaluate its capital structure outside of bankruptcy. But the company still has about $390 million in interest payments coming due through March, meaning a future Chapter 11 filing is not out of the question.

© 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.