Two More Bankruptcy Datapoints
Bankruptcy-related M&A surged in March with 34 acquisitions ($698mln), a level not seen in five years, since August 2004 (38), according to Thomson Reuters. “In the previous economic cycle bankruptcy-related M&A peaked in July 02 with 86 transactions announced and 8 months before equity markets reached the bottom and started their recovery,” a report from this morning stated. Meanwhile, according to data from Bankruptcy Week, the number of public companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was almost as much as the two prior months combined. March saw 31 public companies go bankrupt. Add that to the respective 18 and 19 from January and February, and the total for public companies in Q1 is 68. That’s quite a few more than the private equity-backed company total of 25 (although some of them, like KKR’s Masonite, count as both). Follow the jump for charts.
