The trailing 12-month (TTM) retail institutional leveraged loan default rate climbed above 5% in July from 2.8% at end-June, according to Fitch Ratings. This year five retailers, including True Religion Apparel and J.Crew Group this month, have defaulted on $3.8 billion of loans. The retail sector loan default rate is now well above the non-recessionary average of 1.4%.
The loan universe hasn't seen defaults of this magnitude from retail since the sector's previous high of 5.7% in 2009," said Eric Rosenthal, Senior Director of Leveraged Finance.
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