Investment-grade-rated issuers globally tend to exhibit greater ratings stability (as measured by the frequency of rating transitions) than those rated speculative grade (see table 20). Adding those companies first rated in 1981 to the surviving members (those still actively rated and not in default) of the 1981 static pool forms the 1982 static pool. On Nov. 5, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Texas-based oilfield services provider Nine Energy Service Inc. to 'SD' from 'CCC+' after the issuer's open market debt repurchases, under which it repurchased a total of more than US$50 million of its unsecured notes principal year-to-date at less than 30 cents on the dollar. Note: The totals included may differ from the counts in table 1 because defaults that are not rated at the beginning of the pool year are excluded. However, this poses no continuity problem because each study reports statistics back to Dec. 31, 1980. The company entered into a forbearance agreement with its senior debt lenders and is expected to pursue a debt restructuring. On June 25, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Pittsburgh-based retailer of health and wellness products GNC Holding Inc. to 'D' from 'CC' as the company commenced a voluntary prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on June 23, 2020. The study Default, Transition, and Recovery: 2019 Annual Global Corporate Default And Rating Transition Study April 29, 2020 Key Takeaways - The global speculative-grade corporate default rate rose to 2.5% in 2019 from 2.1% at the end of 2018, while the number of corporate defaults globally rose to 118, the first triple-digit total since 2016. Revenue for MIS in the first quarter of 2022 was $827 million, down 20% from . On June 5, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Colorado-based APC Automotive Technologies Intermediate Holdings LLC to 'D' from 'CCC' after the issuer announced it was commencing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Defaults increased in many sectors in 2020, though the consumer services and energy and natural resources sectors once again led the global default tally, together accounting for almost 54% of the total. No content (including ratings, credit-related analyses and data, valuations, model, software or other application or output therefrom) or any part thereof (Content) may be modified, reverse engineered, reproduced or distributed in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC or its affiliates (collectively, S&P). Structured finance vehicles, public-sector issuers, and sovereign issuers are the subjects of separate default and transition studies, and we exclude them from this study. This is due to the company's interest in preserving the liquidity and financial flexibility to continue operations. On July 20, 2020, we withdrew the ratings on the issuer. On April 6, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Texas-headquartered home health provider BW Homecare Holdings LLC to 'SD' from 'CCC'. On Sept. 25, 2020, Neiman Marcus Holding Company Inc. (formerly the Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. LLC) announced that it emerged from voluntary Chapter 11. As a result, the noteholders received less than the original promise. In 2021, we rated over $6 trillion of issuance and served more than 1,100 issuers who accessed the markets for the first time. On Aug. 6, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Switzerland-based offshore drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. to 'SD' from 'CCC' after the issuer opted for an exchange of US$356 million due in 2023 for US$ 213 million new debt at a higher interest rate. The Gini ratio is a measure of the rank-ordering power of ratings over a given time horizon, from one through seven years. The proportion of defaulters with confidential ratings in 2020 (11.5%) held steady relative to 11% in 2019. Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. The Credit Transition Model and Credit Risk Calculator give users access to easy to use, web-based tools to quickly calculate customized rating transition matrices and default rates based on the DRD data. On July 14, 2020, we withdraw our ratings on the issuer. As laid out in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the plan would cost $825 billion For example, of all the companies that defaulted during 1981-2020, only two entities rated 'AAA' at inception defaulted within seven years. Later, on May 15, 2020, S&P Global Ratings withdrew its ratings at the issuer's request. On April 23, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Canadian diamond company Northwest Acquisitions ULC to 'D' from 'CCC+' after the issuer's subsidiary, Dominion Diamond Mines ULC, announced filing for insolvency protection under The Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Earlier, on May 5, 2020 we lowered the issuer credit rating on Avianca to 'CCC-' from 'CCC' and kept the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. On June 25, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Houston-based exploration and production (E&P) company W&T Offshore Inc. to 'SD' from 'CCC+' following the company's announcement that it repurchased about $72.5 million of its second-lien notes due 2023, about 10% of its total year-end 2019 long-term debt, for roughly $23.9 million, or an average 33% of par value. During 2020, the company increased its stake in V.E from 69.2% to 99.8%. Europe: Earlier, in 2004, S&P Global Ratings withdrew its ratings on the company. In 2005, the speculative-grade share of European corporate ratings peaked near 21%, and once the cycle turned, the European speculative-grade default rate peaked at 9.9% in November 2009. The issuer entered into a forbearance agreement with its first-lien lenders and missed the quarterly interest payment on second-lien debt. On May 27, 2020, we withdrew all the ratings on Extraction Oil & Gas Inc., including the 'D' issuer credit rating, at the company's request. A ratio of 1 would indicate that the percentages of upgrades and downgrades were equal. Each issuer is likely to be captured multiple times, in line with its migration from one rating to another, so the total count in table 13 is different from that in table 12. Many default studies, including this one, also look at transition rates, which gauge the degree to which ratings change--either up or down--over a particular period. On Oct. 8, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Oklahoma-based oil and gas exploration and production company Ascent Resources Utica Holdings LLC to 'SD' from 'CC' after the issuer announced the expiration of its offer to exchange its 2022 senior notes for a combination of a new second-lien term loan due 2025 and new senior notes due 2027. On April 16, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Plano, Texas-based department store operator J.C. Penney Co. Inc. to 'D' from 'CCC' after the company announced it would not make an interest payment. S&P Forecast. Fourth quarter earnings releases have provided insight into corporate margin pressures, but labor market commentary signals that some of these headwinds may be abating. On May 11, 2020, we withdrew the ratings on the issuer. On Aug. 17, 2020, S&P Global Ratings withdrew its ratings on the issuer. Specifically, 87.6% were rated 'CCC+' or lower just prior to default, which is much higher than the 69.4% long-term average. The notable exception was Europe, which continued to see historically elevated defaults through the third and fourth quarters. However, some of the variation in default rates between sectors stems from overall sample size differences, as well as differences in the ratings distribution across industries. Three of the large downgrades in 2020 were from Kazakhstan-based Grain Insurance Co. JSC, U.A.E-based NMC Health PLC, and U.S.-based Garrett Motion Inc. that defaulted during the year. With an increase in the number of defaults in 2020, the total amount of affected debt also rose, to $353.4 billion from $183.2 billion in 2019 (see chart 6). This nonpayment was considered a general default, and the company was not expected to be able to pay most of its obligations. Corporate downgrades also increased, to near an all-time . The coronavirus pandemic-related business disruption (i.e., diamond sales and marketing) affected the cash flow of the issuer. Uploaded by Dimitris Vrachoritis. Default and recovery rates for sustainable project finance bank loans, 1983-2020: 16 Feb 2023 . In years with lower-than-average default rates, often more than 90% of defaulters were initially rated speculative grade, as reflected in the rating path observed for defaulters in the trailing 12 quarters (see chart 10). With the strongly improved U.S. economic outlook for 2021, the speculative-grade negative . default, and recovery information. Half of this amount, US$5.5 million, was waived until the maturity of notes in 2024, while the issuer was still negotiating the payment date for the other half. S&P Global Ratings assigned initial ratings to 622 issuers in 2020, down from 650 issuers in 2019 and 875 in 2018. to 'SD' from 'CCC+' after the company missed interest payment on its 510 million senior secured notes due November 2023. Neglecting the randomness of the distribution of recovery rate may underestimate the risk. On Dec. 17, 2020, S&P Global Ratings raised its issuer credit rating to 'CCC+' from 'D', reflecting the company's position post restructuring. Moody's | Better decisions 3Q 2021 Investor Presentation 2 . One key reason is that financial services companies typically start with investment-grade ratings, while most nonfinancial issuers have speculative-grade initial ratings, particularly over the past 10 years. However, the speculative-grade share of both the financial and nonfinancial sectors has been growing in recent years. S&P has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain non-public information received in connection with each analytical process. The majority of the company's revenue comes from airports, depending on airline passenger travel, which has declined sharply because of the pandemic. On June 19, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Hudson, Ohio-based fabric and crafts retailer Jo-Ann Stores LLC to 'SD' from 'CCC' as the company repurchased $5.6 million of its second-lien term loan at a 57% discount in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 ended May 2, 2020, and subsequently agreed to repurchase $206 million face value of first- and second-lien debt at approximately 50% discount in the second quarter ended Aug. 1, 2020. We are expecting that the issuer will be able to generate sufficient cash for debt repayment, though times are challenging. On Dec. 10, 2020, S&P Global Ratings raised the issuer credit rating to 'CCC+' from 'SD' following the company's debt exchange. The issuer's business had been suffering and further deteriorated due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of 2020, speculative-grade issuers once again became the global majority, accounting for 50.3% of rated issuers, from 49.9% at the beginning of the year. The rating action followed Covia's announcement that its domestic subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In addition to relief against very tight financial covenants, second-lien term loan lenders agreed to exchange annual cash interest payments of LIBOR plus 1,000 basis points (L+1000 bps) (1% LIBOR floor) for cash interest payments of L+100 bps (1% LIBOR floor) plus 1,000 bps PIK along with warrants to potentially acquire equity in the company. to 'SD' from 'CCC-' after the issuer missed principal payment on its IDR150 billion domestic notes and entered a 10-day grace period. Kathrin was a lead analyst in Moody's EMEA Corporate Finance Group in Frankfurt, Germany, covering a diverse set of heavy industrial corporations across Europe. For the most part, the speculative-grade share of every sector has grown over the past decade, with the exception of the real estate sector. As 2020 wore on, default rates fell across most regions, with fourth-quarter figures generally less than half the rates in the second quarter. . On July 17, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Marshall Islands-based offshore driller Seadrill Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Seadrill Ltd., to 'SD' from 'CCC' after the issuer announced that it would use the 30-day grace period for interest payment. On May 28, 2020, SMLP closed the acquisition of Summit Midstream Partners LLC (Summit Investments), the owner of its general partner (Summit Midstream Partners Holdings LLC [SMP Holdings]), in a simplification transaction. On Dec. 8, 2020, S&P Global Ratings assigned a 'CCC+' issuer credit rating to CPK after the issuer emerged from bankruptcy, where it was able to restructure US$200 million of reported prepetition debt. On the same day, we withdrew the ratings at the company's request. The issuer with the longest time to default in 2020 was U.S.-based Revlon Inc., with an initial issuer credit rating of 'AA' as of Dec. 31, 1980, 39.4 years before the rating was lowered to 'SD' (selective default) in May 2020. S&P Global Ratings considers the repurchase to be distressed and tantamount to default given the holders received less than the original promise on the securities and that the offer was made to avoid a default and cross acceleration of Noble's unsecured debt. Many practitioners use statistics from this default study to estimate the "probability of default" and "probability of rating transition." The issuer was hit by an ongoing bankruptcy proceeding of its joint venture partner Sanchez Energy and by the decline in oil prices owing to the Saudi-Russia price war and decline in demand related to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, on May 1, 2020, we lowered our issuer credit rating on Chesapeake Energy to 'CC' from 'CCC'. Because static pools include only entities with active ratings as of the beginning date of a given pool, we exclude companies with withdrawn ratings, as well as those that have defaulted, from subsequent static pools. Earlier, on April 20, 2020, we lowered the issuer credit rating on Equinox to 'CCC' from 'B-' following the closure of all its fitness clubs in the U.S. and freezing of all its club memberships due to the coronavirus outbreak. For example, 427 defaults were recorded in the five-year pool that began in January 2016, of which 414 were rated speculative grade on Jan. 1, 2016. Furthermore, weak liquidity supports our view of O1 Properties' general default. On June 24, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Houston-based Summit Midstream Partners L.P. (SMLP) to 'SD' from 'CCC'. KIS Research and revenue from providing ESG research, data and assessments. These marginal averages are then used to calculate the cumulative average default rates in the row directly beneath them, as explained in the "Average cumulative default rate" section above. For both broad categories over the past three years, all of these defaulters were rated in the lowest rating categories several years ahead of their eventual default. *U.S., Bermuda, and Cayman Islands. The issuer is still under high execution risk after its Chapter 11 filing in 2019. On July 27, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on New York-based party goods retailer and wholesaler Party City Holdings Inc. to 'SD' from 'CC' after the issuer completed a distressed exchange, at 33.5% of par value for the debt exchanged. On Jan. 19, 2020, The Krystal Co. defaulted after the company filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 with the Northern District of Georgia. This figure includes new ratings subsequent to a prior default--such as after distressed exchanges. On May 20, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its issuer credit rating on Oklahoma-based casino resort operator Downstream Development Authority (DDA) to 'SD' from 'CCC'. On April 10, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Turkey-based household appliance manufacturer Vestel Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. to 'SD' from 'CCC+' after the issuer postponed a portion of its financial obligation due in June for three to six months. For additional details on the 2020 defaulters, see Appendix III. The upgrade rate fell to 2.8% in 2020--the lowest annual rate since 1981. Earlier, on March 17, 2020, we lowered the long-term issuer credit rating to 'CCC+' from 'B' after the issuer's refinancing prospects were difficult and capital structure was unsustainable. In our view, continued supply-demand rebalancing will be necessary to slow wage . Earlier, on April 8, 2020, we lowered our issuer credit rating on W&T Offshore to 'CCC+' from 'B-'. This report does not constitute a rating action. On Aug. 3, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Missouri-based motion picture exhibitor AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. to 'SD' from 'CC' after the issuer completed the distressed exchange of its subordinated debt at 70%-75% of its par value. The syndicated creditors will now acquire 49% of the capital of the operating business. On Feb. 25, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Canada-based oilfield services provider Calfrac Well Services Ltd. to 'SD' from 'CC' after the company completed a distressed exchange on the U.S. dollar unsecured notes due in 2026. This was the second-largest default since 2014, when Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Co. LLC defaulted with $28.7 billion in associated debt (see table 5). This study--in line with previous default studies--confirms that over the long term (1981-2020), higher ratings are more stable than lower ratings. On April 8, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Texas-based specialized crane service provider North American Lifting Holdings Inc. to 'SD' from 'CCC-'. On Oct. 15, 2020, S&P Global Ratings raised the issuer credit rating to 'CCC', with a negative outlook, considering the company's ability to improve its liquidity. The debt has been converted from cash to PIK at LIBOR+450 for US$125 million while another US$50 million at LIBOR+1000. For the purposes of this study, if an issuer defaults, we end its rating history at 'D'. These default rates do not imply, however, that 'AAA' rated companies are riskier than 'AA+' rated companies, for example, but rather that both are highly unlikely to default. At the time of the withdrawal, our 'D' rating reflected the nonpayment of the coupon on the $350 million Eurobond in April 2020 followed by a nonpayment of its mezzanine loan. According to S&P, at the end of 2020, their 12-month trailing default rates amounted to 6.6% for U.S. speculative-grade. All rating changes that occur in between are ignored. S&P assumes no obligation to update the Content following publication in any form or format. This compares with a Gini of 88.3% and a default rate of 2.5% in 2019. Its rating history after the default event is included in all calculations as entirely separate from its experience leading up to its earlier default. (See table 15 for the 13 publicly rated investment-grade defaults during this period.) On Dec. 9, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Tennessee-based health care services provider Community Health Systems Inc. to 'SD' from 'CC'. The gap becomes even wider over longer time horizons, such as three years and 10 years (see chart 19). On April 21, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered the long-term issuer credit ratings on New Jersey-based advertising agency Engine Holding LLC to 'D' from 'CCC-' after the issuer entered into a forbearance agreement with its lenders on its failure to pay the debt interest and principal payments for the first quarter of 2020. For example, three-year transition matrices were the result of comparing ratings at the beginning of the years 1981-2018 with the ratings at the end of the years 1983-2020. Ratings On May 11, 2020, S&P Global Ratings withdrew its ratings at the issuer's request. The only ratings considered in these calculations are those on entities at the beginning of each static pool and those at the end. Therefore, we believe Serta Simmons' capital structure remains unsustainable, especially amid an uncertain economic environment that could continue to pressure operating performance and cash flow. Because of the extremely small size of the 'AAA' rating category, the downgrade of even one issuer will have a large effect on this segment's stability rate. Bond price data for firms at default are obtained from Moody's Investor Services, and are supplemented with information from Standard & Poor's and Merrill 5 A similar point is made in Pykhtin (2003). commercial paper obligations rated A 1 or P 1 or better by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. or Standard & Poor's Corporation, respectively; or (iii) . Overall, ultimate recovery rates for project finance bank loans are similar to those for senior secured corporate bank loans and overall corporate bank loans. A total of 3,098 defaults have been recorded globally since 1981. We then divide this by the ratio of the total number of nonzero weights minus one and the total number of nonzero weights. Lower-rated companies also exhibit lower survival rates over time. Moody's optimistic scenario entails a strong recovery leading to a default rate forecast of just 2% for the year-end and maintaining around the 2% area for the initial months of 2022. For this study, the Lorenz curve is plotted with the x-axis showing the cumulative share of issuers, arranged by rating, while the y-axis represents the cumulative share of defaulters, also arranged by rating. On Aug. 14, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Texas-based midstream energy company Martin Midstream Partners L.P. to 'SD' from 'CC' after the issuer announced the completion of the distressed exchange of US$364.5 million senior unsecured notes due in 2021. Liquidity also weakened as cash flows for debt repayment diminished. Earlier, on Feb. 9, 2020, we lowered the issuer credit rating on Speedcast to 'CCC' from 'B-' after the issuer announced lower 2019 earnings, which intensified pressure on the group's liquidity. This is slightly higher than the post-Lehman Bros. default (2009 onward) annual average of $1.4 billion. Second Party Opinions & Transaction Evaluations, U.S. Local Governments Credit Scenario Builder, Annual Global Trends: Defaults Reach Their Highest Level Since 2009, Lower Ratings Are Much More Vulnerable To Default, Industry Variations: Energy And Consumer Services Lead Again, But Defaults Were Widespread In 2020, Speculative-Grade Ratings Represent About Half Of Corporate Issuers, Transition And Cumulative Default Rates Demonstrate Ratings Performance, Criteria For Assigning CCC+, CCC, CCC-, And CC Ratings, U.S. Recovery Study: Clouds Loom As Defaults Rise. For both axes of the Lorenz curve, the observations are ordered from the low end of the ratings scale ('CCC'/'C') to the high end ('AAA'). The depressed commodity prices, the company's liquidity position, and the ongoing capital needs to maintain production were the main factors behind the decision. On Oct. 30, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Netherlands-based general merchandise retailer Hema B.V. to 'SD' from 'CC' after the issuer completed a distressed debt restructuring transaction on Oct. 19, 2020. On April 14, 2020, S&P Global Ratings withdrew the issuer credit rating at the issuer's request. On April 9, 2020, we raised the ratings on the issuer to 'CCC' from 'D' on the expectation of average leverage above 15x. Earlier, on April 22, 2020, we lowered our issuer credit rating on Revlon to 'CC' from 'CCC-' after the company announced it was pursuing a recapitalization transaction to extend the maturity of its existing 2016 $1.8 billion term loan, term out its unrated $200 million term loan issued in 2019, and enhance its liquidity position. On Oct. 13, 2020, S&P Global Ratings raised the issuer credit rating to 'CCC' from 'SD' following the completion of the exchange. The negative outlook reflects the possibility that we could lower the rating if we believe a near-term conventional default, restructuring, or transaction that we view as tantamount to a default becomes a near certainty. On July 17, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Delaware-based oil and gas exploration and production company Bruin E&P Partners LLC to 'D' from 'CC' after the issuer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On Sept. 24, 2020, we raised the issuer credit rating to 'CCC' from 'SD'. On April 1, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Texas-based hamburger restaurant chain Steak n Shake Inc. to SD from 'CCC-' after the issuer completed a distressed exchange by retiring a portion of its term loan. The holders of the existing notes will receive $750 principal amount of the new notes for every $1,000 of existing notes, and $50 of cash as a consent fee if they agree to an early tender. Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and U.K. Australia, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand. *This column includes companies that were no longer rated one year prior to default.