U.S.-based specialty chemicals company TPC Group Inc. must make scheduled quarterly interest payments due on its $153 million first-priority 10.875% senior notes and semi-annual interest payments due on its $930 million 10.5% senior notes. In our view, the company will not make the interest payments when they come due on Feb. 1, 2022, or during the 30-day grace period. We view this as tantamount to a default. Therefore, we lowered our issuer credit rating on TPC Group to 'D' from 'CCC' and our issue-level ratings on its senior notes to 'D'. The downgrade reflects our expectation that TPC Group Inc. will not make the upcoming interest payments due on both issues of its senior notes due 2024 before the end
