Banks Eye Energy Loan Sell-Off Amid Oil Downturn

Bracewell’s Dewey Gonsoulin discussed with Law360 reporter Keith Goldberg how commercial banks are selling off loans made to oil and gas drillers in order to reduce their exposure to the industry.

“I think more typically, you see banks sell their portfolios off piecemeal to try to get the best recovery,” said Gonsoulin. “I also don’t know how much appetite there is for potential buyers to purchase an entire portfolio at this point in the cycle.”

Banks offloading the reserve based loans they currently hold is a way for banks to clean up their overall loan portfolio in the eyes of their regulators and investors, and avoid getting entangled in the increasing number of oil and gas bankruptcies.

Click here to read more from Law360.