US Bankruptcy Claims Trading Hits 12-month High

(Reuters) – The value of U.S. bankruptcy claims traded in July was the highest since the same month a year earlier, according to a report released on Tuesday. The face value of traded claims rose to $3.55 billion, the highest since $12.78 billion in July 2010, according to SecondMarket, which runs a claims trading platform. The number of claims traded slipped to 1,340 in July from 1,809 in June but the number of underlying bankruptcy cases that had claims changing hands rose to 59. Lehman Brothers Holding Inc, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, led both the number of claims and the value of traded claims, as it does every month. Other active cases included restaurant chain Perkins & Marie Callender, telecoms firm Nortel Networks Inc and HearUSA Inc, a hearing-aid maker.