From ZeroHedge:
With Tesla stock plunging 13%, suffering its biggest one day drop in years as the market was forced to evaluate a world in which Elon Musk is no longer affiliated with the company should the SEC get its wish (a proposition which according to Barclays could wipe out as much as $130 from the TSLA stock price), bond traders are likewise trimming their exposure, which in turn has sent Tesla's default odds to a new all time high.
According to CMA, Tesla credit default swaps - i.e., the upfront cost of protection against default - rose over 1% to 22.8 points, the highest on record. This means that for every $10 million in protection, investors will have to pay $2.28 million upfront. This also means that the implied probability of default over the next 5 years is an all time high of 48%.
Alongside the stock selloff, Tesla’s junk bonds fell to 84.75 cents on the dollar, down half a cent.
***Tesla currently has $11.5 billion in outstanding debt, of which European insurance giant Allianz is the biggest holder. At the end of February, $920 million in convertible debt matures with a convert price of $360. Tesla is currently trading 30% below that price, so it will come due as cash instead of equity for holders of those notes unless the stock somehow surges by $90 in the next 4 months.
Making matters worse for Tesla is that the company will now, with the SEC lawsuit in play, almost certainly require another cash infusion before it reaches profitability, and the new capital would be far harder to come and be more expensive after SEC lawsuit, especially if Musk is forced to step down....MORE
