AMC, CHS, Vine Oil & Gas bonds rise; Occidental slips; Frontier Communications active

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Jan. 26 – AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.’s bonds continued to gain on Tuesday after the company’s paper rallied Monday on the heels of additional funding raised.

The company’s 12% second-lien senior secured notes due 2026 (Ca/C) climbed 4 points to 53 bid in heavy trading on Tuesday, a source said.

The notes jumped 9½ points on Monday after going out Friday at 39½ bid.

S&P Global Ratings raised the rating on the second-lien notes to C from D on Monday after downgrading the securities last week.

AMC’s 5¾% senior subordinated notes due 2025 (Ca/C) traded up 2 points at 37 bid on Tuesday after rising 7¼ points in the prior session.

On Monday, AMC announced that as of Dec. 14, the company has raised or signed commitment letters to receive $917 million of new equity and debt capital after securing more than $1 billion of cash between April and November, staving off any talk of an imminent bankruptcy.

CHS notes improve

Community Health Systems Inc.’s bonds climbed higher over Tuesday’s session as the company returned to the primary market for a second time this month.

The Franklin, Tenn.-based operator of acute care and outpatient facilities’ 6 7/8% senior notes due 2028 (Ca/CCC-) traded at 91 bid on Tuesday, better than where the notes were last seen Friday in secondary trading at 89½ bid.

The 6 7/8% notes were quoted at the start of the year at 80¾ bid.

Subsidiary CHS/Community Health Systems Inc. priced $1.095 billion of 4¾% 10-year senior secured notes (Caa1/B-/B) on Tuesday, following the company’s sale of $1.775 billion of 6 7/8% junior-priority secured notes due 2029 (Caa3/CCC-/CC) on Jan. 19.

Frontier notes active

In other distressed trading on Tuesday, Frontier Communications Corp.’s notes were active with the company’s 7 5/8% senior notes due 2024 quoted at 51¾ bid, a source said.

Frontier expects to emerge from bankruptcy early this year after filing for Chapter 11 protection in April 2020.

The company announced earlier in January that it received approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its bankruptcy restructuring.

Energy issues mixed

Distressed energy bonds were mixed in secondary trading on Tuesday, a source said.

Vine Oil & Gas, LP’s 9¾% senior notes due 2023 (Caa2/CCC-) traded 5 points better at 93¼ bid.

Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s 4.4% senior notes due 2049 (Ba2/BB-) softened more than 2 points to 86 bid on Tuesday.

The secretary of the U.S. Interior Department under the Biden administration last week implemented a 60-day suspension on new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits for U.S. lands and waters.

Oil futures were mixed during the session.

West Texas intermediate crude oil for March deliveries fell 16 cents to settle at $52.61 a barrel.

North Sea Brent crude oil futures for March deliveries settled up 3 cents at $55.91 a barrel.

Market tone was modestly better Monday but softened on Tuesday.

The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF declined 13 cents, or 0.15%, to $87.19.

The S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Distressed Bond index closed Monday with positive returns of 0.4% and month- and year-to-date total returns of 7.79%.

HighPoint bonds trade

HighPoint Resources Corp.’s 7% senior notes due 2022 (C/C) were mostly unchanged at 40 bid on Tuesday in strong trading but about 1 point softer from Friday, a source said.

The company’s 8¾% notes due 2025 (C/C) were last seen trading on Friday in the secondary market at 40 bid.

The natural gas and oil exploration company announced in November that it has agreed to merge with Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. in a debt-for-equity exchange transaction valued at about $376 million.

The companies plan to conduct a registered exchange offer and consent solicitation and simultaneous solicitation of a pre-packaged plan of reorganization.

If the minimum participation condition on the exchange is not met, HighPoint intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to execute the pre-packaged plan and complete the merger.

HighPoint expects the transaction to close in the first quarter under the exchange offer and consent solicitation or no later than the second quarter under the pre-packaged plan.

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