“Risky oil companies snap up $20bn in junk bond record”
March 22, 2021
“Lowly rated US energy companies that struggled for survival last year are finding renewed optimism among investors after a surge in oil prices, helping them raise a record amount of debt to fend off bankruptcy. Energy and power companies tracked by Refinitiv have raised more than $20bn in the high-yield bond market so far this year, an all-time record for data going back to 1996. A four-month-long rally in crude prices stalled last week, but Brent, the international benchmark, remains above $60 a barrel, up over 60 per cent since the start of November. This rally, fuelled by vaccine rollouts and record Opec oil production cuts, has prompted a change in sentiment among debt investors who had shunned many energy companies last year…”