Distressed Debt
This chapter provides an introduction to distressed debt, primarily from the vantage point of debtholders in financially distressed corporations. In doing so, it gives a description of this sub-asset class and the basic intuition along with stylized examples to explain the motivating factors behind the strategic behavior of other stakeholders that may devalue a distressed-debt investor’s financial claim if left unattended. This chapter also discusses the considerations in distressed debt exchanges of public bond issuances or in the restructuring of private loan agreements, with the view to minimizing the likelihood of strategic default and other inefficient outcomes to investors of distressed debt. Overall, this chapter offers exposure to the basic features and terminology in distressed debt and debt restructuring.