Bankrupt Bed Bath & Beyond bonds decline; WeWork notes gain; WW International stronger

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., April 24 – Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s bonds declined about 1½ points to 3 points on Monday, while its stock dropped to 18 cents following the retailer’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing the previous day.

The 5.165% notes due 2044 (C/D) fell 1½ points.

WeWork Inc.’s 7 7/8% senior notes due 2025 (CC) gave back more than 1½ points to 1¾ points in trading on Monday, but the issue remained about 10 points better than the same session a week ago.

The bonds have gained since the company announced April 17 the early tender results for its debt exchange offers and filed a prospectus supplement to issue new class A common stock and warrants.

Stock indices were mixed but little changed on Monday.

The S&P 500 index closed up 0.09%.

The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF improved 21 cents, or 0.28%, to $75.20.

Volatility also stayed mostly flat over the session. The CBOE Volatility index rose 0.06% to 16.78.

In other distressed paper, WW International Inc.’s 4½% senior secured notes due 2029 (B1/B) climbed 1½ points on Monday and have gained about 10 points since the company announced April 10 that it closed on its acquisition of a telehealth provider.

Bed Bath & Beyond lower

Bed Bath & Beyond’s 5.165% senior notes due 2044 (C/D) fell 1½ points to 4 bid by the close on $7.41 million of trading, a source said.

The retailer’s 4.915% senior notes due 2034 (C/D) were quoted at 4 1/8 bid on $5 million of secondary activity on Monday.

The bonds were down more than 1 point from Friday.

S&P Global Ratings dropped the issuer and the notes to D on Monday.

Bed Bath & Beyond reported Sunday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has started a liquidation sale with plans to use the bankruptcy process to market the company and its buybuy Baby assets in an auction.

The retailer’s 360 stores and its 120 buybuy Baby stores, as well as websites, will remain open for now.

The company had tried several avenues this year to raise funding and avoid bankruptcy, including the issuance of preferred stock warrants, and was scheduled to hold a special shareholders meeting on May 9 to vote on a reverse stock split.

The Union, N.J.-based home products retailer’s shares dropped 35.67% on Monday to 18 cents but were up 14% in after-hours trading.

WeWork soft on day

WeWork’s 7 7/8% senior notes due 2025 fell more than 1½ points to 1¾ points in trading totaling about $4 million on Monday but remained stronger from a week ago, a source said.

The notes went out at 53¾ bid, up from where the issue traded April 17 at 43 1/8 bid.

WeWork announced a week ago the early tender results for its exchange offers and consent bids for two tranches of notes that were launched on April 3.

The company also filed a supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue additional shares of its class A common stock and warrants.

WeWork’s stock had hit consecutive record lows earlier in April.

Shares finished Monday up 4.8% at 47 cents.

The New York-based office share company will release its first-quarter earnings report on May 9.

WW International up

WW International’s 4½% senior secured notes due 2029 (B1/B) were last seen 1½ points higher on Monday at 63½ bid on active trading in the distressed space, a source said.

Volume totaled $3.9 million.

The bonds have climbed about 10 points since April 11 when they were quoted at 53 bid, 54 offered.

WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers International, Inc., announced April 10 that it closed on its $132 million acquisition of telehealth company Weekend Health Inc., doing business as Sequence.

Shares closed Monday down 10.98% at $7.54. The stock traded in the $4 area at the start of April.

The New York-based weight loss company will report first-quarter earnings on May 4.

Distressed index positive

S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Distressed Bond index one-day returns ended the prior week improved at 0.32% on Friday, versus minus 0.06% on Thursday, minus 0.34% on Wednesday, 0.32% on Tuesday and minus 0.06% in the April 17 session.

Month-to-date returns rose Friday to 1.86%, up from 1.61% at the start of the week.

Year-to-date total returns also improved to 6.46% on Friday from 6.2% in the first session of the week.

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