Altice France slips in strong trading; Tullow notes rally more than 5 points; WeWork off

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Jan. 25 – In distressed telecom paper, Altice France SA’s 6% notes due 2028 (Caa1/CCC+) moved off ¼ point in strong trading that topped $15 million on Wednesday.

Tullow Oil plc’s 7% senior notes due 2025 (Caa2/CCC+) rallied 5¾ points by the day’s end after the company posted a 2023 outlook and 2022 update ahead of the release of its full-year 2022 results on March 8.

Crude oil prices were mostly flat on Wednesday.

West Texas intermediate crude oil benchmark futures for March deliveries settled up 2 cents at $80.15 a barrel.

Stocks were mixed with the junk space slightly weaker.

The S&P 500 index edged down 0.02%.

The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF declined 1 cent to $76.20.

Volatility continued to wane. The CBOE Volatility index was off 0.63% at $19.08.

WeWork Inc.’s 7 7/8% senior notes due 2025 (CCC+/CCC-) fared poorly over the session with the paper down more than 4 points.

CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc.’s 6 7/8% senior secured notes due 2029 (Caa2/CCC) also were under pressure over the day with the issue 1½ points lower.

Altice declines

Altice France’s 6% notes due 2028 (Caa1/CCC+) dropped ¼ point to 67 bid by the day’s wrap, a source said.

Trading was strong on about $15.5 million of volume on Wednesday.

Altice France held lender calls on Thursday to launch an amendment and extension of existing term loans and plans to extend its revolving credit facilities to January 2028.

The cable and telecommunications company is based in Paris.

Tullow climbs

Tullow Oil’s 7% senior notes due 2025 (Caa2/CCC+) rallied 5¾ points to go out the door Wednesday at 70½ bid, a source said.

The issue saw $6 million of paper traded.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the issuer’s credit rating and confirmed the Caa2 rating on the $800 million backed senior notes due 2025 in December.

The oil and gas exploration company is based in London with primary business operations in Ghana.

WeWork softens

WeWork’s 7 7/8% senior notes due 2025 (CCC+/CCC-) gave back more than 4½ points by the close to a quote of 54 7/8 bid on $1.2 million of volume on Wednesday, according to a market source.

WeWork’s paper came under pressure in 2022. The 7 7/8% notes were quoted back in June at 74 bid.

The New York City-based flexible office share company reported Jan. 19 that it will cut 300 jobs from its global operations.

WeWork will release fourth-quarter and fiscal 2022 results on Feb. 16.

CHS paper lower

CHS/Community Health’s 6 7/8% senior secured notes due 2029 (Caa2/CCC) shed 1½ points on Wednesday to trade at 64 bid, a market source said.

Secondary supply was light with $1 million of paper traded.

The issue has been on the upswing since trading in the low 40s in October.

The Franklin, Tenn.-based operator of acute care and outpatient facilities announced Jan. 3 that it sold its West Virginia hospital to a subsidiary of Vandalia Health.

Distressed returns positive

S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Distressed Bond index one-day returns declined but stayed positive on Tuesday at 0.08%, down from 0.29% on Monday.

Month-, quarter- and year-to-date total returns rose to 7.39% from 7.31% at the start of the week.

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