March 2021 Chapter 11 Filing Activity
Written by Ian Howland, Research and Data Analyst, First Day ||
After a tepid start for chapter 11 filing activity during the first two months of 2021, spring has sprung some liveliness filing activity, as March’s count rose to 34, representing a 36% increase from February’s level and and a 79% increase from January, which was one of our slowest months on record. With one day left in the month, March’s numbers are down 5.6% from March 2020 and 12.8% from March 2019.
While January and February captured low filing counts by month-end across all sectors this year, they resembled some of 2020’s busiest months with respect to consumer discretionary and real estate filings, which represented a combined 64% of all chapter 11’s over the same period. Not only did the filing frequency increase significantly in March, the month’s filing set is also much more diverse, led by the communication services and real estate sectors with six cases each, followed by consumer discretionary with five, financials with four and each of the energy, healthcare and utilities sectors with three.