Chesapeake Energy executives have canceled a planned appearance at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2019 Leveraged Finance Conference taking place this week in Boca Raton, Florida, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The development caused several of issuer’s bonds to strengthen by 1-2 points amid speculation that the company has strategic news to announce in the near future, they said.

Investors are awaiting news on many fronts. For one, Chesapeake has recently engaged in talks to sell its Haynesville assets to Comstock Resources, but a deal has yet to be announced. The issuer could also seek an uptier exchange to take advantage of depressed trading levels and address near-term maturities, as reported.

At the same time, Chesapeake has warned of covenant compliance problems, so it may attempt to amend its credit agreement.

Its USD 850m 7% senior unsecured notes due 2024 traded today at 51 to yield 25.042%, up from trades at 49.25 yesterday (2 December). The USD 1.3bn 8% senior unsecured notes due 2027 also traded up to 48.25 to yield 22.612% from trades at 47.25 yesterday, according to MarketAxess.

Chesapeake and Bank of America did not respond to a request for comment.

2019 Debtwire