Takeaway Tuesday #1 8/30/2022
Welcome to the inaugural Takeaway Tuesday (or Tuesday Takeaways...still haven't decided). As a reminder the format is:
- Two Reorg articles, one performing credit/one non performing credit
- Two articles I found interesting this week
- One thing I bet you didn't know you could do on Reorg
- The incredible saga of 3M ($MMM) on both the combat litigation and the potential monsoon of issues from PFOA and PFOS designations...or how fast can $70B of market cap / or an IG rating get eliminated...
- Regulatory Coverage: EPA Proposes to Designate PFOA, PFOS ‘Forever’ Chemicals, Including 3M Products, as ‘Hazardous Substances,’ Enabling Government to Recover Cleanup Costs From Companies
- Aearo Bankruptcy Court Denies 3M Litigation Injunction Because Prepetition Funding Agreement Not Contingent on Injunction, Says Size of Mass Tort MDL Alone Insufficient to Justify Protecting Nondebtors
- Aearo Technologies Seeks Certification for Direct Review By Bankruptcy Court to 7th Circuit Court of Appeals of Bankruptcy Court’s Order Denying Extension of Injunction to 3M Combat Arms Earplugs MDL
- And many more...
- Diamond Sports, one of, if not the most topical name in stressed/distressed credit - Reorg penned a piece of hypothetical bankruptcy catalyst considerations. One takeaway we had: "If DSG were to reject certain unprofitable team rights contracts per section 365(d)(2), those teams would need to arrange for backup production capabilities, distributor relationships and advertisement deals. Such operational complexity while teams would need to fund their costs, such as payroll, might also place Diamond into a more favorable position to push back on its existing contract terms."
- China on the tightrope - I learned so much from this article and admittedly I don't think people are talking about this enough. Global demand destruction for everything could have serious deflationary consequences
- Google Doc on Conversation Starters - Put together by Rob Walker who writes The Art of Noticing. My favorite: If you did not have to sleep, how would you spend the extra 8 hours?