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Default, Transition, and Recovery: Slower Start To 2022 As ION Geophysical Corp. Becomes First Default Of The Year

This Week's Observations

  • ION Geophysical Corp., a U.S marine seismic data company, becomes the first default of 2022.
  • At this point in 2021, there were already four defaults year-to-date (see table 1).
  • We estimate that the U.S. 12-month trailing speculative-grade default rate fell to 1.5% in December 2021, and the European 12-month trailing speculative-grade default rate fell to 1.8% (see table 1).

The 2022 global corporate default tally reached one with the default of U.S.-based marine seismic data company ION Geophysical Corp. which missed interest and principal payments on its 8% senior secured notes due 2025, and its 9.125% unsecured notes due 2020 (see "ION Geophysical Corp. Downgraded To 'D' On Missed Interest And Principal Payments," Jan. 4, 2021). This is ION's second default in the last 12 months, having previously defaulted in April 2021 after completing a debt exchange offer.

Table 1

U.S. Starts 2022 Defaults Count With One Default
Region 12-month-trailing speculative-grade default rate (%) 2022 YTD 2021 YTD 2021 Weakest links
U.S. *1.5 1 3 40 135
Emerging markets 1.7 0 0 15 20
Europe *1.8 0 1 14 50
Other developed 2.2 0 0 3 11
Global 1.8 1 4 72 216
Note. *Trailing-12-month speculative grade default rates for U.S. and Europe from Dec. 31, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2021 are preliminary and subject to change.

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Table 2

Global Corporate Defaults 2022
Date Parent company Country Subsector To From Reason
1/4/2022

ION Geophysical Corp.

U.S. Oil and gas D CCC Missed principal and interest payments
SD--Selective default. Data as of Jan. 12, 2022. Sources: S&P Global Ratings Research and S&P Global Market Intelligence’s CreditPro®.

Related Research

Default Studies

More analysis and statistics are available in our annual default studies, published on RatingsDirect:

Corporate (financial and nonfinancial)
Structured finance
U.S. public finance
Sovereign and international public finance

This report does not constitute a rating action.

Credit Markets Research:Nicole Serino, New York + 1 (212) 438 1396;
nicole.serino@spglobal.com
Secondary Contact:Patrick Drury Byrne, Dublin (00353) 1 568 0605;
patrick.drurybyrne@spglobal.com
Research Contributor:Yogesh Kumar, CRISIL Global Analytical Center, an S&P affiliate, Mumbai

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