Francis Chou Comments on EXCO Resources

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Aug 27, 2021
Summary
  • The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2019.

EXCO Resources Inc. (EXCE, Financial)

In early July 2019, the company emerged from bankruptcy and the 1.75 lien term loans were converted into 28.38 equity shares for every US$1,000 in par value, after netting out certain adjustments. We received 1,518,570 shares of EXCO in the Fund. The equivalent price was US$9.51 per share of EXCO.

Looking back on this investment, we underestimated how long the price of natural gas would stay low for and how low it has been relative to the price of oil. Historically, there had been a strong relationship between the prices of oil and natural gas. Thinking about the two fuels in terms of energy equivalency, 6,000 cubic feet (6 mcf) of natural gas has the same amount of energy content as 1 barrel of oil. In the past, this 6 to 1 ratio guided the relationship between oil and natural gas prices but for the last few years the ratio between prices has gone up to as high as
50 to 1.

Long story short, it was not such a great idea to invest in the 1.75 lien term loans of EXCO.

From Francis Chou (Trades, Portfolio)'s Chou Associates Fund 2021 semiannual letter.

Disclosures

I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours. Click for the complete disclosure