Global company default risk rose in Feb. - index

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The number of companies at an
increased risk of defaulting on their debt globally rose
slightly in February, though credit conditions were essentially
unchanged from January, Kamakura Corp, a risk management
information provider, said on Friday.
Kamakura's index of "troubled" public companies increased
0.1 percentage point in February from January, to 23.2 percent
of the global public company universe.
A company is considered "troubled" when its default
probability is in excess of 1 percent. The index hit a high of
28 percent in September 2001.
Companies with the largest increase in short-term default
risk included Chemtura Corp , ArvinMeritor Inc ,
Belo Corp , Alcatel-Lucent and Office Depot Inc
, Kamakura said.
Companies with a default probability of more than 20
percent fell 0.1 percentage point to 2.7 percent in February,
while companies with a 10-to-20 percent default risk dropped
0.2 percentage point to 2.8 percent, the company said.
Companies with a 5-to-10 percent default risk rose 0.1
percentage point to 4.3 percent in the month, and companies
with a 1-to-5 percent default probability increased 0.2 percent
to 13.3 percent, Kamakura said.
(Reporting by Karen Brettell;)
((karen.brettell@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6274; Reuters
Messaging: karen.brettell.reuters.com@reuters.net ))
Keywords: DEFAULT KAMKURA/

(C) Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters
sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of
companies around the world.

nN27371316