Transocean Leads $20 Billion Debt on Junk’s Cusp
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Transocean Ltd. is poised to be the first in a wave of energy-related issuers downgraded to junk status, making the speculative-grade market even more vulnerable to the fate of oil as concern mounts that crude will resume its slide.
The world’s largest offshore driller, which has about $9 billion of borrowings, may be stripped of its investment-grade ratings soon after it reports earnings Feb. 25, according to a report last week from Barclays Plc. As much as $20 billion of energy-related debt may be cut to junk within 18 months, expanding what is already the largest part of the high-yield, high-risk market by 11 percent, analysts led by Brad Rogoff and Eric Gross wrote in the report.