 | | Featured Premium Content | | | | | WSJ Pro Bankruptcy: Celebrity-Backed Bankrupt Carbon Credit Seller Arranges Financing Amid Fraud Charges Against Co-Founder
Aspiration Partners, a climate-finance startup backed by celebrities like Cindy Crawford and Robert Downey Jr., has lined up proposed funding to stay afloat in chapter 11 after federal prosecutors charged a co-founder with fraud, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The San Francisco-based company, which has brokered carbon-credit deals with companies including Microsoft and Meta Platforms, failed to secure a lender after contacting roughly two dozen lenders and existing investors, including junior creditor Oaktree Capital Management, chief restructuring officer Miles Staglik said in a filing Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. READ MORE | | | | | SPONSORED CONTENTPrivate Credit and BSLs: Friends or Foes?With private credit and broadly syndicated loans (BSLs) competing for dominance, the lending landscape is in flux. But can these markets ultimately work hand in hand? SRS Acquiom, in partnership with Debtwire, surveyed 200 senior executives from alternative asset management firms across Europe and the U.S. to uncover the true dynamics of these two critical markets. Download the Report | | |  | | Editor's Picks | | | | | Fitch: U.S. Leveraged Loan and High-Yield Bond Default Rates Largely Unchanged in February
February’s trailing twelve-month default rates for leveraged loan and high-yield bonds were 5.2% and 2.5%, respectively, down from 5.3% and 2.7% in January, according to Fitch Ratings’ March U.S. Distressed and Default Monitor. A secular decline and macroeconomic pressures drove February default activity. For Sinclair Television Group, the traditional TV broadcasting sector has been in secular decline as consumers shift to digital and streaming platforms, alongside cord-cutting trends, leading to reduced advertising revenue. READ MORE | | Abuse Survivors Vote to Support Bankruptcy Exit Plan for Syracuse Catholic Diocese
Abuse survivors voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bankruptcy exit plan for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, moving it closer to final confirmation, Syracuse.com reported. Each of the 324 survivors who returned a ballot voted to approve the plan and consented to its terms, according to data released late last month. The centerpiece of the 94-page bankruptcy exit plan is a $100 million fund to pay abuse survivors if they end their lawsuits against the church. READ MORE | | Snack Maker Hearthside Emerges from Chapter 11 as Maker’s Pride
Hearthside Food Solutions has emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under a new name after completing a financial restructuring, GlobalData.com reported. The move has allowed the U.S.-based snack maker to shed approximately $2 billion of funded debt, “positioning the business for significant long-term growth”, the company said in a statement. Maker’s Pride now has approximately $600m in liquidity, which includes $200 million raised through an equity rights offering and around $190 million secured through a new asset-backed loan facility. READ MORE
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A father-and-son team has been indicted in Manhattan on charges they defrauded investors in a failed Arizona sports complex, causing more than $200 million in losses for Vanguard Group, AllianceBernstein and other municipal bond investors, Reuters reported. Federal prosecutors said Randy Miller, 70, and Chad Miller, 41, were arrested on Tuesday and each charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft related to Legacy Park, a sports and entertainment complex in Mesa, Arizona, that collapsed into bankruptcy in May 2023. READ MORE | | Bracebridge Capital to Provide Bankruptcy Loan to Hooters
Bracebridge Capital, a Boston-based hedge fund, is set to provide a bankruptcy loan to Hooters of America. The loan is intended to help the restaurant chain navigate its chapter 11 process, according to Bloomberg. Hooters filed for bankruptcy on Monday, with approximately $300 million in asset-backed bonds tied to the franchise. The company plans to request court approval for $40 million in debtor-in-possession financing from certain existing lenders. READ MORE | | U.S. Job Openings Decline in February Amid Rising Economic Uncertainty
U.S. job openings fell in February as rising uncertainty over the economy due to tariffs on imports curbed demand for labor, Reuters reported. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped 194,000 to 7.568 million by the last day of February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Data for January was revised slightly higher to 7.762 million vacancies instead of the previously reported 7.74 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.61 million unfilled positions. Layoffs increased 116,000 to a still-low 1.790 million. READ MORE | | Trump Is Set to Unveil Expansive Global Tariffs
President Trump is set to unveil his most expansive tariffs to date today at 4 p.m. ET, when he will detail potentially punishing levies on countries around the globe, including America’s largest trading partners, the New York Times reported. Exactly how he plans to structure the new tariffs is not yet clear. The White House press secretary said Tuesday afternoon that Mr. Trump had decided on a course of action and that the new tariffs would go into effect immediately, but that he and his trade advisers were continuing to hash out details. READ MORE | | | | |
