Jim Feltman Featured in Financier Worldwide's 2016 Bankruptcy and Restructuring Roundtable

Read 2016 Bankruptcy and Restructuring Roundtable

Duff & Phelps' Jim Feltman discusses the landscape for restructurings in 2016 in Financier Worldwide's Bankruptcy and Restructuring Roundtable. The vast majority of significant filings in the last year are the direct result of sustained depression of commodity prices and a direct effect on industries including a range of energy companies, including coal, crude and natural gas on both the production and exploration sides. The downturn in commodity prices has also caused a slowdown for companies that process commodities, causing a ripple effect for ancillary goods and service providers impacted from this downturn.

International restructurings are trending up, as reflected in the number of Chapter 15 filings in the energy, shipping, commodity-based or transportation based businesses. However, we are in an unprecedented liquidity bubble where, by historical standards, the cost of capital has been extraordinarily low for much longer than expected. Even in this ‘free money’ environment, lenders have been reluctant to act against underperforming borrowers. The situation seems to be transforming into a more demanding lender environment, perhaps due to economic pressures, but regulations requiring greater transparency and accountability also play a factor.