What We’re Reading This Week [August 24, 2020]
The Wall Street Journal reports that Dutch retail chain HEMA B.V. sought protection under chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code on August 19, 2020 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York while it seeks to complete a restructuring of approximately US$474 million of debt in the United Kingdom. [WSJ; Aug. 20, 2020]
Reporting from CNBC, which is based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor, shows that unemployment claims for the week ending August 15, 2020 exceeded 1.1 million, which is almost 200,000 more than economists expected. [CNBC; Aug. 20, 2020]
Tennessee headquartered mall owner CBL Properties is expected to seek bankruptcy protection to restructure approximately $3 billion in debt, reports Yahoo Finance. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBL and other commercial landlords have dealt with decreased revenue from rent as tenants have dealt with decreased foot traffic. [Yahoo Finance; Aug. 19, 2020]
Data from Fitch shows that in the first half of 2020 $ 40.1 billion worth of commercial mortgage backed securities were transferred to special servicing, with $35.5 billion worth being transferred during the second quarter of 2020. [Fitch; Aug. 17, 2020]
