US corporate bankruptcies decline in September for 1st time since April

The number of US corporate bankruptcies declined in September 2025 from the prior month for the first time since April.

Monthly bankruptcy filings among large public and private companies fell to 59 in September from 76 in August, which was the highest monthly total since at least 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The data includes companies with public debt and assets or liabilities of at least $2 million or private companies with assets or liabilities of at least $10 million at the time of filing.

Through the end of September, these companies had filed 581 bankruptcy filings year to date, the most for this nine-month period since 2010.

The US Federal Reserve issued its first cut of 2025 in September to its benchmark short-term interest rate. This may provide relief to overleveraged companies with high debt interest payments, especially if the Fed continues to reduce this rate in the coming months and if these cuts bring down yields on longer-term US Treasurys, which influence corporate and consumer borrowing rates.

The yield on the 5-year Treasury note ended September at 3.74%, the same rate at which it began the month. The 10-year Treasury note dipped to 4.16% from 4.28% during the month.

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Notable filings

Four companies entered the bankruptcy process in September with more than $1 billion in liabilities at the time of filing.

Omnicare Inc., a subsidiary of CVS Health Corp., entered bankruptcy to resolve issues related to recent litigation against the company. The litigation involved a nearly $1 billion judgment in a government court case over drug prescriptions for elderly and disabled patients. Omnicare said it would also use the bankruptcy process to address other financial challenges facing the broader long-term care pharmacy industry and to evaluate its restructuring options.

Automotive parts supplier First Brands Group LLC announced its bankruptcy filing Sept. 28. S&P Global Ratings downgraded the company's credit rating to CC from CCC+ on Sept. 26 with a view that a default or distressed restructuring was "a virtual certainty" after an unsuccessful refinancing attempt in July and citing distressed trading levels of its debt. The rating agency on Sept. 29 further lowered First Brands' crediting rating to D to reflect the bankruptcy.

The other large bankruptcies in September included a Sept. 10 filing by subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings LLC and a Sept. 29 filing by education technology provider Anthology Inc.

Sector breakdown

Bankruptcies were concentrated in the industrial and consumer discretionary sectors in September and through the first nine months of the year.

There were at least eight bankruptcies in September among large companies in the industrial sector, bringing the total for the year to 91. Bankruptcies among large consumer discretionary companies totaled 75 through the first nine months of this year, after eight new filings in September.

Of the 581 companies that filed for bankruptcy for the year through September, 322 had a primary sector designated by Market Intelligence data. There were 207 combined filings from companies in the industrials, consumer discretionary and healthcare sectors.

This Data Dispatch is updated regularly. The previous edition was published Sept. 15.

Bankruptcy figures include public companies or private companies with public debt with a minimum of $2 million in assets or liabilities at the time of filing, in addition to private companies with at least $10 million in assets or liabilities. S&P Global Market Intelligence may remove companies from this list if it discovers that their total assets and liabilities do not meet the threshold requirement for inclusion.

This report may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this report were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings