Category: Insight

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a Wells Fargo report, flows week to date were -$0.8 billion and year to date flows stand at -$9.0 billion. New issuance for the week was $15.2 billion and year to date HY is at $188 billion.

(Bloomberg) Saudi Arabia Says It’s Open to Another OPEC Cuts Extension

• Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih agreed with his Venezuelan, Kazakh and U.A.E. counterparts to keep all options open in their push to re-balance world oil markets, including the possible extension of output cuts beyond next March.
• Al-Falih agreed in separate talks with the ministers in the Kazakh capital Astana that steps taken by OPEC and other major crude producers such as Kazakhstan have contributed to better market stability, according to three emailed statements from the Saudi energy ministry.
• Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to consider prolonging production cuts “beyond the first quarter of 2018, if needed,” the Saudi ministry said in one of the statements. The kingdom and Kazakhstan said such an extension “would be considered in due course as market fundamentals may dictate,” according to a separate Saudi statement.
• OPEC and other producers including Russia pledged to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels a day through March to trim global oil inventories and buttress prices. The producers are seeking to strengthen compliance with the cuts accord they reached last year.

(Broadcasting and Cable) CenturyLink Extends Level 3 Deal Closure Date

• CenturyLink said it expects its deal to buy Level 3 Communications will close by mid-to-late October, which will require approval by the FCC and Justice as well as remaining state sign-offs.
• That is actually a slight delay in the original projected closing, which had been the end of this month. California won’t vote on its state approval until Oct. 12, but CenturyLink pointed out that a California ALJ has deemed the deal in the public interest and recommended the California PUC approve it at that Oct. 12 meeting.
• CenturyLink CEO Glen Post said the company views the “slight delay” as manageable and is ready to begin integrating Level 3 into the fold as soon as the deal is closed.
• He also said that the company wanted to give the regulators time to complete their review. The company will have to, since the deal cannot close until and if the FCC and DOJ approve it, though the company is working with regulators throughout to provide info and input, so the announcement is a good sign the deal will not be blocked.

(Real Deal) Despite rising demand, multifamily construction is slowing down

• Construction of multifamily buildings is slowing down across the country, even though there’s rising demand for rental units.
• More than half of metro areas across the country are expected to see more multifamily housing built this year than what was seen between 1980 and 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Trulia data. However, that construction — the driver of the last construction boom — is on the cusp of slowing down. If the construction of single-family homes doesn’t increase to fill its place, according to the newspaper, the country’s economy could be adversely affected.
• According to Commerce Department data released on Wednesday, overall U.S. housing starts dropped for the fourth time in five months in July. For single-family construction, starts decreased by 0.5 percent. However, they dropped a massive 17 percent for construction on buildings with five or more units.
• “I’m optimistic that single-family will catch up,” Ralph McLaughlin, the chief economist at Trulia. “It’s not going to happen this year and it’s probably not going to happen next year.”
• Apartment construction is slowing because of the massive increase in apartment inventory. In New York City, excess supply has led to landlords offering concession to renters and brokers. In July, concessions at residential rental buildings in Brooklyn were the highest they have been in the seven years that they’ve been tracked.

(Kansas City Business Journal) AMC completes $130M sale-leaseback deal

• AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is making progress with monetizing assets and announced it completed the sale-leaseback of seven U.S theaters. The $130-million deal involves an unnamed U.S. buyer and will lead to about $128 million in cash after closing costs and a deferred gain on sale of about $80 million.
• “AMC’s $130 million sale leaseback transaction is the second action step we have consummated since the announcement last month to realize monies from assets which were not vital for us to own,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a release. “Combined with the sale of our 50 percent interest in Open Road Films, which was sold last month with an $18 million pre-tax gain, AMC has generated more than $140 million of cash. This is beneficial in enabling AMC to pursue our plan to strengthen our balance sheet even as we pursue dynamic growth.”
• The announcement is part of AMC’s effort to sell $400 million in assets to strengthen its overall liquidity position and help finance buying back AMC shares and paying down debt.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a Wells Fargo report, flows week to date were $1.0 billion and year to date flows stand at -$8.1 billion. New issuance for the week was $1.3 billion and year to date HY is at $173 billion.

(Reuters) Bankers work on US$70bn debt for Altice Charter tie-up

• Bankers are working on debt financings of around US$70bn backing a potential offer by Netherlands-based telecom conglomerate Altice NV and its US cable unit for US cable operator Charter Communications Inc, banking sources said on Wednesday.
• A debt deal would be one of the largest acquisition financing packages to date and one of the largest leveraged acquisition financings, the sources said.
• “Even on a conservative level, the debt backing Altice’s Charter bid would be the largest-ever leveraged financing,” a senior banker said.
• Bankers are unwilling to risk missing out on a deal of this size and are actively pitching financing proposals to Altice to back any potential bid, bankers said.
• “The financing would be sizeable so every big bank is around it in some shape or form – all the guys that have led Altice deals in the past,” a second senior banker said.
• “Any bank with any appetite will be in there pitching. No one wants to miss out on the trade,” a third senior banker said.

(Nashville Post) Moody’s cuts Community Health Systems rating

• A Moody’s Investors Service analyst on Tuesday downgraded the debt rating of Community Health Systems, saying the company is unlikely to lower its high debt ratios over the next year and a half despite selling dozens of its hospitals.
• The debt ratings agency said Franklin-based CHS, along with its hospital company peers, faces “operating headwinds” that will keep its ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization around 7:1. Moody’s analysts have cut their group rating for CHS as well as its senior unsecured notes, among other things, but have a stable outlook for the company. They say they’ll consider an upgrade if the company’s debt-to-EBITDA ratio climbs to 6:1.
• CHS executives in May renegotiated their main credit agreement to give them more time to lower the company’s debt ratios. In the past year, they have sold or signed agreements to sell 30 hospitals and last month said more deals are likely coming in 2018.

(Industrial Distribution) U.S. Rig Count Snaps 4-Week Slide, Harvey Drives Oil Back Above $48

• The U.S. combined active oil and gas rig count posted its first increase for the first time in five weeks with a modest gain, while the price of oil jumped essentially $2 from the midpoint of last Friday to Tuesday morning.
• Friday’s count provided by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes (Sept. 1) was up by three, snapping a four-week streak of declines. The count hadn’t increased in six of the previous seven weeks. Friday’s total of 943 was up by 89.7 percent year-over-year
• Oil rigs comprised 80.5 percent of Friday’s total.
• The U.S. oil rig count held steady last week at 759. Its count is up 86.5 percent year-over-year and up 140.2 percent since bottoming out at 316 on May 27, 2016.
• The U.S. added three gas rigs last week, moving its current mark to 183. The active gas rig count is up 108.0 percent year-over-year and up by 125.9 percent since bottoming out at 81 on Aug. 5 and Aug. 26, 2016.

(PR Newswire) Steel Dynamics Announces Offering of Notes

• Steel Dynamics, Inc. announced that it plans to sell approximately $350 million aggregate principal amount of debt securities in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, subject to market and other conditions. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering, along with cash on hand, to purchase any and all of its 6.375% Senior Notes due 2022 that are validly tendered in a tender offer commenced on September 6, 2017, and to redeem, repurchase or satisfy and discharge any 2022 Notes not purchased in the Tender Offer, and to pay related fees and expenses.

Additionally, Steel Dynamics was upgraded by Moody’s to a Ba1 credit rating.

(Bloomberg) Distressed Supply Increases in August, Led by Communications

• Distressed supply increased for the third month in a row, raising the question whether another distressed cycle is upon the credit market. In strong credit markets, distressed inventory tends to decline or meander in a trough. The distressed ratio increased to 6% from 5%, as the communications and energy sectors added distressed supply.
• The face value of bonds in the BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Distressed Index rose $16 billion to $84 billion in August, the third straight gain. Having fallen to $53 billion in February from a $377 billion peak a year earlier, the question is whether supply is set to reverse and increase.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a Wells Fargo report, flows week to date were $0.08 billion and year to date flows stand at -$9.2 billion. New issuance for the week was $0.0 billion and year to date HY is at $172 billion. This past week was very much a typical late summer lull.

(Oil & Gas Journal) US rig count falls 6 units to 940

• The overall US rig count has fallen again this week, marking the fourth straight week of declines. Baker Hughes’ calculation of active US rigs dropped 6 units during the week ended Aug. 25 to 940.
• Rigs drilling for oil fell 4 units to 759 rigs working, while those rigs targeting natural gas also declined 2 units to 180 rigs. Rigs unclassified sat unchanged at 1 unit.
• The US rig count is up 451 rigs from last year’s count of 489, with oil rigs up 353, gas rigs up 99, and unclassified rigs down 1 to 1.
• Among the major oil and gas-producing states, Texas and Pennsylvania were down 3 rigs each to respective counts of 456 and 31. Oklahoma, Utah, and Alaska were down 1 rig each to respective counts of 130, 8, and 4.
• In Canada, the overall rig count climbed 3 units this week to reach 217. Rigs drilling for oil fell 6 units to 115 and those targeting gas gained 9 units to 102. The total count is up 71 units from this time a year ago when 146 rigs were operating.

(Bloomberg) Altice to Buy Back Up to $1.2 Billion in Stock, Will Eye M&A

• Billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice NV plans to buy back as much as 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of stock during the next 12 months, while continuing to look for potential acquisition targets.
• The telecommunications company will buy A and B shares on the Amsterdam exchange, according to a statement Monday. “Going forward, Altice will continue to assess the use of excess cash for either significantly accretive M&A opportunities or further shareholder returns,” the company said.
• Altice said the buyback reflects its confidence in achieving near-term financial targets, reiterating all its 2017 goals. An acquisition push in the U.S. has helped Drahi diversify Altice beyond a stagnant European telecommunications market, and the company has said its Altice USA unit is seeking to grow further through takeovers after its initial public offering in June.
• The company is working on a potential offer to buy Charter Communications Inc., following other possible suitors including Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. in targeting the U.S. cable carrier, people familiar with the matter said this month. Altice is also considering other potential acquisitions, one of the people said.

(CNN) U.S. company gives up control of world’s No. 2 copper mine

• Freeport-McMoRan agreed Tuesday to give up its majority stake in the massive Grasberg gold and copper mine, ceding control to the Indonesian government in what is likely to be seen as a victory for President Joko Widodo.
• The U.S. miner’s ownership stake will be reduced from 90% to 49%, Indonesia’s energy minister Ignasius Jonan said at a joint press conference with Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson. The exact time of the handover is under discussion, they said.
• Freeport and its local subsidiary have conducted mining and exploration activities since 1988 at the 525,000-acre complex, which includes a massive open pit mine.
• But many Indonesians objected to their country’s mineral resources being mined by a foreign corporation, and the project has long faced opposition — and even violent protests — from locals in the eastern province of Papua.
• Jonan said Tuesday that the agreement wants to “prioritize the national interest” and the “importance of the people of Papua.” He said that control of the mine would also give Indonesia sovereignty over its natural resources.
• Freeport has agreed to build a new processing and refining facility for the mine, and — if other conditions are met — it will be allowed to operate the project until 2041.

(Bloomberg) Largest U.S. Refiner Shuts as New Harvey Landfall Extends Damage

• Harvey’s second landfall, hitting southwest Louisiana near the Texas border, expanded the growing list of damaged oil refineries, shutting down two key plants, including America’s largest.
• The latest hit list potentially reduces U.S. fuel-making capacity to the lowest since 2008, following Hurricane Ike. Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Port Arthur facility in Texas, the biggest U.S. refinery, is shutting because of severe flooding, said a person with knowledge of the operations. Total SA’s refinery in Port Arthur is out with a power loss, a person familiar with that plant said. Those plants are located less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the tropical storm’s 4 a.m. Wednesday landfall just west of Cameron, Louisiana.
• The two refineries join more than a dozen others with a combined ability to produce more than 4 million barrels a day, or about 23 percent of U.S. capacity, that are at least partially offline. Gasoline futures are at the highest in two years, and the fuel’s premium to crude is at a 16-month high.
• “These closures are already impacting markets with crude prices lower on a perceived drop in demand and gasoline prices spiking in response to lower supply,” Sandy Fielden, director of research commodities and energy at Morningstar Commodities Research, said in an emailed note.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a Wells Fargo report, flows week to date were -$1.8 billion and year to date flows stand at -$9.2 billion. New issuance for the week was $1.0 billion and year to date HY is at $172 billion.

(Business Wire) Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Fiscal Quarter Ended June 30, 2017

• $638.0 million of consolidated revenue, including $509.1 million from the Communications Infrastructure segments and $128.9 million from the Allstream segment
• Bookings of $7.5 million, gross installs of $7.3 million, churn of 1.2% and net installs of $1.4 million, all on a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and monthly amortized revenue (MAR) basis, excluding the Allstream segment
• Adjusted unlevered free cash flow of $117.2 million
• The Company completed the acquisition of Castle Access, Inc.’s San Diego data centers. The two data centers, located at 12270 World Trade Drive and 9606 Aero Drive, total more than 100,000 square feet of space and 2 megawatts of critical, IT power, with additional power available. The acquisition was funded with cash on hand and was considered a stock purchase for tax purpose.

(NJB Magazine) B&G Foods to Acquire Back to Nature Foods Company

• B&G Foods, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Back to Nature Foods Company, LLC, from Brynwood Partners VI L.P., Mondelēz International and certain other entities and individuals for approximately $162.5 million in cash, subject to customary closing and post-closing working capital adjustments. B&G Foods expects the acquisition to close during the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.
• “We are very pleased to add Back to Nature® to the B&G Foods family of brands. Consistent with our acquisition strategy and our recent Green Giant®, spices & seasonings and Victoria® acquisitions, we are continuing to diversify our portfolio of brands and invest in brands and products that we believe are most relevant to today’s consumer,” stated Robert C. Cantwell, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&G Foods.
• B&G Foods expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share and free cash flow and projects that following the completion of a six-month integration period, the acquired business will generate on an annualized basis net sales of approximately $80 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $17 million. Based upon the foregoing adjusted EBITDA guidance, the acquisition represents a purchase price multiple of approximately 9.6 times adjusted EBITDA (or 8.4 times adjusted EBITDA net of the present value of expected tax benefits).

(Reuters) United Rentals to buy equipment rental chain Neff for about $1.3 billion

• United Rentals Inc, the world’s largest construction equipment rental company, will buy Neff Corp for about $1.3 billion, the companies said, topping H&E Equipment Services Inc’s about $1.2 billion offer last month.
• “United Rentals is an industry leader in equipment rentals, and as a result of this transaction, our employees and customers will benefit from the combined company’s expanded geographic footprint and diversified offering,” Neff’s Chief Executive Graham Hood said.
• Neff is expected to generate $419 million of total revenue for the full year, the companies said.

(Reuters) Western Digital group to offer $17.4 billion for Toshiba chip unit

• A consortium that includes Western Digital is offering 1.9 trillion yen ($17.4 billion) for Toshiba Corp’s memory chip business, which the Japanese conglomerate is trying to sell to cover losses from its U.S. nuclear business, sources said on Thursday.
• Western Digital is set to offer 150 billion yen through convertible bonds and will not seek voting rights in the business, the sources who were familiar with the deal said.
• The consortium also includes U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co as well as the state-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan and Development Bank of Japan, all of which will offer 300 billion yen each for the chip business, the sources said.
• Under the proposal, Toshiba’s lenders including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Mizuho Bank would also extend around 700 billion yen in loans, they said.
• Other Japanese companies will also invest around 50 billion yen to ensure domestic firms hold a combined 60 percent stake, the sources said, adding that Toshiba itself would keep a 100 billion yen stake in the business.
• Sources have said that Toshiba wants to reach a deal by the end of the month and close the sale by the end of the fiscal year in March to ensure it does not report negative net worth, or liabilities exceeding assets, for a second year running. This could result in a delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
• Given regulatory approvals could take more than six months, the company has been hoping to reach a deal by the end of the month to ensure it can close the sale in time.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a JP Morgan report, flows week to date were -$2.1 billion and year to date flows stand at -$12.5 billion. New issuance for the week was $7.2 billion and year to date HY is at $171 billion.

(Food Business News) B&G Foods names head of corporate strategy

• Bruce C. Wacha has been appointed to the newly created position of executive vice-president of corporate strategy and business development for B&G Foods, Inc., effective Aug. 21. In this role, Mr. Wacha will oversee the company’s corporate strategy and business development, including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions and investor relations. Additionally, he will serve on B&G Foods’ executive management team.
• “We are very pleased to have Bruce Wacha join our team,” said Robert C. Cantwell, chief executive officer of B&G Foods. “M.&A. and capital markets transactions are vital to our growth strategy, and Bruce is an experienced and talented executive who will be a valuable addition as we continue to execute that strategy.”
• Mr. Wacha joins B&G Foods from Amira Nature Foods Ltd., where he spent three years as the chief financial officer and executive director on the board of directors. Previously, he spent more than 15 years in the financial services industry advising corporate clients across the food, beverage and consumer products landscape at Deutsche Bank Securities, Merrill Lynch and Prudential Securities.

(Business Wire) AES Announces Pricing of $500 Million of Senior Notes in Public Offering

• The AES Corporation announced that it has priced $500 million aggregate principal amount of 5.125% senior notes due 2027. AES intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes to fund the concurrent tender offer to purchase AES’ outstanding 8.00% senior notes due 2020 and to pay certain related fees and expenses. AES intends to use any remaining net proceeds from this offering after completion of the tender offer to retire certain of its outstanding indebtedness. The closing of the offering of the Notes is expected to occur, subject to certain customary conditions, on August 28, 2017.

(CNBC) Tesla’s first junk bond offering is a hit

• Tesla raised $1.8 billion, $300 million more than expected, in its first high-yield junk bond offering.
• The yield of 5.30 percent was slightly higher than the original guidance of 5.25 percent.
• Goldman Sachs was the lead underwriter of the eight-year bonds. S&P rated the bonds negative B and Moody’s B3.
• “It was well-received,” said Efraim Levy of CFRA. “In a large extent it does show that people are interested in the bonds of the company because they believe in the long-term growth … story.”
• It “speaks to the sheer insanity found in the high-yield market to have a deal like this upsized with terms so unappealing to investors,” said Larry McDonald, author of The Bear Traps Report newsletter. “The deck is stacked for Tesla in bond deal terms, congrats to Elon Musk.”

Meanwhile, away from CNBC, a daily high yield publication ran the headline “Tesla Trades Terribly.”

• The article had many quotes from bond traders on Wall Street. One trader commented that the Tesla deal “was one that a lot of high-yield money managers basically avoided.”
• Another trader said that there was some demand overseas but that “among your regular on-the-run high-yield guys, we couldn’t find anybody that played in it.”
• Finally, a trader went on to say that the “deal was away from the normal high-yield universe” and the order book “was hyped.”

(Bloomberg) Junk-Debt Wrecking Ball Swings Toward Telecom

• Buried in last week’s debt sell-off was an important message to credit investors: Not all bonds are the same, and those of telecommunications companies appear worse off than others.
• While U.S. high-yield bonds lost 0.8 percent last week, debt of companies such as Frontier, CenturyLink and Intelsat were hit even harder. Speculative-grade bonds of telecom companies lost 1.3 percent on average, more than those in any other industry.
• The pronounced industry weakness was due in part to some company-specific issues, such as some disappointing second-quarter earnings and merger speculation. But the disproportionate declines highlight broader investor concern about an increasingly challenging backdrop for these companies.
• While a collapse is hardly imminent for these companies, it’s worthwhile questioning what their futures look like in three, five or 10 years. And from debt investors’ perspective, it’s worth taking note of this, especially in light of current trends in the $1.3 trillion U.S. junk-bond market. Instead of a broad-based sell-off, weakness has cycled through specific sectors, one or two at a time. (Remember when energy bonds were the focus, back in 2014 and 2015, or retail debt of late?)

(Bloomberg) Energy Capital, Investors to Buy Calpine for $5.6 Billion

• Private equity firm Energy Capital Partners and a consortium of investors have struck a deal to buy U.S. power generator Calpine Corp. for $5.6 billion in cash.
• Tyler Reeder, a partner at Energy Capital, said the firm doesn’t expect to make any changes to the way Calpine operates or to the company’s financial policy and previously announced $2.7 billion debt reduction plan.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to a Wells Fargo report, flows week to date were -$0.1 billion and year to date flows stand at -$5.7 billion. New issuance for the week was $8.1 billion and year to date HY is at $164 billion.

(Oil & Gas Journal) US rig count drops for third time in 6 weeks

• The overall US rig count has recorded its largest decline since before the drilling rebound commenced in late May-early June of 2016.
• Baker Hughes’ tally of active rigs in the US dropped 4 units to 954. However, this week’s downward movement was primarily supplied by gas-directed rigs. The overall count is still up 550 units since the bottom of the drilling dive on the weeks ended May 20-27, 2016.
• US oil-directed rigs edged down a unit to 765, also their third drop of the past 6 weeks, during which time they’ve added just 7 units. They’re still up 449 units since May 27, 2016.
• Gas-directed rigs fell 3 units to 189, mostly stagnant since May but still up 108 units since last Aug. 26.
• US crude oil production, meanwhile, continues to rise according to preliminary estimates from the US Energy Information Administration. In EIA’s more-accurate monthly report based on its EIA-914 survey of producers, the agency indicated that May production averaged 9.17 million b/d, up 60,000 b/d from April. Weekly preliminary data for the month, however, put average May output above 9.3 million b/d, indicating that, for a second straight month, more-accurate survey data lagged behind preliminary weekly data.

(Fierce Cable) Altice’s Charter bid could be as high as $185B

• Hungry European telecom conglomerate Altice could be prepping a bid as high as $185 billion for Charter Communications.
• According to Reuters, the No. 2 U.S. cable company is worth $180 billion including debt—but excluding any takeover premium.
• However, analysts have serious doubts as to whether Altice—which has a market cap of around $23 billion to go along with $22.6 billion in debt—has the balance sheet needed to entice Charter shareholders, notably the cable company’s biggest investor, Liberty Broadband and its chief, John Malone.
• “On the most positive view of synergies, we don’t think there is enough value for Malone and other Charter investors to accept a deal where they cede control, despite holding the majority of the pro forma equity, while taking on the risk associated with a deal,” said a New Street Research investor memo spearheaded by analyst Jonathan Chaplin.

(Business Wire) AES Reports Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results; Reaffirms 2017 Guidance and Long-Term Expectations

• AES reported financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2017. Compared with last year, the Company benefited from higher margins, primarily driven by higher availability at certain generation businesses, and lower Parent interest expense.
• Consolidated Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities for the second quarter of 2017 was $251 million, a decrease of $472 million compared to the second quarter of 2016. The decrease was primarily driven by the receipt of overdue receivables at Maritza in Bulgaria in 2016, and the impact from the recovery of high purchased power costs at Eletropaulo in Brazil in 2016. Second quarter 2017 Consolidated Free Cash Flow (a non-GAAP financial measure) decreased $448 million to $106 million compared to the second quarter of 2016, primarily due to the same drivers as Consolidated Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities.
• “In the last few months, we completed the acquisition of sPower, the largest independent solar developer and operator in U.S., brought on-line an additional 122 MW in the Dominican Republic by closing the cycle at DPP and closed on $2 billion in non-recourse financing for the 1.4 GW Southland CCGT and energy storage project in California,” said Andrés Gluski, AES President and Chief Executive Officer. “These are concrete steps towards achieving our growth objectives, based on long-term, U.S. Dollar-denominated contracts, with decreased carbon intensity. Overall, we are making good progress on our 5 GW of projects under construction, with the exception of our 531 MW Alto Maipo hydroelectric project in Chile, where we are disappointed with the project’s current status and continued cost overruns.”
• “Our second quarter results reflect our efforts to improve the efficiency of our portfolio through higher availability and our capital allocation decisions that resulted in lower Parent interest,” said Tom O’Flynn, AES Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “Based on our performance year-to-date, we are reaffirming our 2017 guidance and expectations through 2020.”

(Bloomberg) Junk Bonds Slump as Morgan Stanley Sees a Bigger Unwind Ahead

• A high-yield bond fund run by BlackRock Inc. slumped on Thursday to its lowest level since March, a day after Morgan Stanley warned a correction may already be underway. The cost of protecting speculative-grade bonds against default in the credit-default swap market climbed to its highest level since July 6. Investors demanded the most extra yield in almost a month to buy junk debt, according to a Bloomberg Barclays index fixed late Wednesday.
• Investors haven’t abandoned the junk market altogether — Tesla Inc. will probably pay lower-than-average yields on $1.5 billion of bonds it’s selling now. But that kind of enthusiasm for speculative-grade securities may get increasingly rare, Morgan Stanley analysts said.

Fund Flows & Issuance: According to Wells Fargo, flows week to date were $0.4 billion and year to date flows stand at -$5.6 billion. New issuance for the week was $6.8 billion and year to date HY is at $157 billion.

(MarketWatch) AMC hits record low as unrelentingly poor box office continues to take a toll

• AMC said on Tuesday that not only would the company swing to a loss in the quarter, but that it would be wider than analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.
• Analysts have, for the most part, stayed positive on the film exhibitor group, as box office revenues have suffered so far this year. While investors clearly don’t like the news, analysts believe that this too will pass.
• So far in the year, box office revenue is down 2% compared with the same point last year.
• “[Our] fundamental view is unchanged, but the stock is likely in the penalty box,” RBC analyst Leo Kulp wrote in a note to investors. “The news does not change our fundamental view given our already low expectations around the second quarter. With higher costs and a weaker third-quarter box office outlook now baked in as well as a positive outlook on the 2018 box office, we believe we could be near a bottoming out.”

(DSL Reports) Frontier Communications Loses Another 101,000 Frustrated DSL Users

• Frontier continues to lose DSL customers frustrated by the company’s high prices and slow broadband speeds. Frontier’s latest earnings report indicates that the company lost another 101,000 DSL customers last quarter, thanks in large part to users fleeing to cable or wireless services that offer dramatically faster connectivity. Customers in Florida, Texas and California are also still fleeing the ISP due to its bungled acquisition of Verizon’s unwanted DSL and FiOS customers in those states.
• Frontier CEO Dan McCarthy tried to put a positive spin on the company’s problems with the acquisition, its outdated speeds, and the ongoing defections.
• “We’re back in the market with new offers, slightly higher speeds, and we feel pretty good about that,” McCarthy said. “Those offers launch really this week, and we’re expecting to see continued voluntarily churn reduction, as well as an uptick in gross adds, and the combination of the two is where we see improvements in net as we get into this quarter.”
• But that statement tries to obfuscate that many Frontier customers are leaving because the company still refuses to upgrade older DSL lines at any real scale, leaving many users on 3-6 Mbps DSL that falls well below the base definition of 25 Mbps. Cable providers have been having a field day in these markets as DOCSIS 3.1 now allows them to offer gigabit speeds for relatively little investment.

(24/7 Wall St.) More Upside Seen for Cell Tower Giants Ahead of 5G Deployments

• If there is one part of the communications industry that many consumers tend to overlook, it is the cell and communications tower operators. At least until they lose their signal. SBA Communications Corp. reported mixed earnings that looked a bit softer than expected, but analysts by and large call for more upside in SBA and from its two top rivals.
• Jeffrey Stoops, president and CEO of SBA Communications, talked up the spending climate ahead of spectrum and 5G deployments in the quarters and years ahead.
  “With substantial spectrum and 5G deployments on the horizon in both the U.S. and internationally, we expect customer demand to remain solid for years to come. Against that demand, we intend to continue to execute well and we expect to continue to favor allocating capital to portfolio growth and stock repurchases. We continue to remain on track to achieve our long term goal of $10 or more of AFFO per share in 2020.”

(CNBC) Sprint swings to a profit, helped by cost cuts

• Sprint on Tuesday swung to a quarterly profit for the first time in three years and its chief executive said an announcement on merger talks should come in the “near future.”
• Sprint is in the middle of a turnaround plan and has sought to strengthen its balance sheet to compete in a saturated market for wireless service.
• While Sprint has cut costs, analysts say the company is highly leveraged. And although its customer base has expanded under Chief Executive Marcelo Claure, growth has been driven by heavy discounting.
• On the company’s post-earnings conference call, Claure said that while Sprint could sustain itself on its own, the synergies that could come with a transaction were significantly better than remaining a standalone entity.
• “We have plenty of options, and we’ve had discussions with a lot of different parties,” he said.
• He said he was surprised Charter said it was not interested in acquiring Sprint given Sprint was never offered for Charter to buy. Rather, he said, it was part of the “bigger play that has been reported.”
• “Everybody has shown a high level of interest in evaluating Sprint as a potential merger partner. We’re very encouraged by the results of our conversations,” Claure later told reporters.