Investor Wilbur Ross, famous for his big appetite for distressed debt, has spent several hundred million on buying debt in the oil and gas industry, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the development.
Ross has taken his sweet time entering the oil and gas sector, patiently waiting in the wings while many others were quick to snatch up the debt earlier in the crisis—many of whom were likely surprised and sickened to find out just how long the depressed oil prices have carried on.
These acquisitions will allow Ross’s investment vehicle, W.L. Ross & Co., to take control these distressed oil and gas companies if they are forced by circumstances to file for bankruptcy protection—a move that some may interpret as his confidence that we may finally be at or near the bottom with oil.