Mood Media Corp. — a provider of background music for stores, restaurants and hotels — has filed a prepackaged chapter 11 bankruptcy, intending to cut roughly $400 million in debt from its balance sheet and to hand control to lenders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The filing marks the second time Mood has filed for bankruptcy in the past three years and the third time its subsidiary — the pioneering background-sound business Muzak — has been through bankruptcy since 2009. Mood acquired Muzak in 2011. Judge Marvin Isgur of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston approved the company’s restructuring plan on Friday, less than 24 hours after it filed for chapter 11 protection. Mood started soliciting creditors’ support for the restructuring in late June and received no objections to the transaction, which includes a debt-for-equity swap. Christopher Greco, a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis LLP representing Mood, said during a telephone hearing that the case might be the fastest on record between when a company filed for bankruptcy and won court approval on its chapter 11 plan. Mood expects to leave chapter 11 by Aug. 3. The company’s last financial restructuring was backed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management LLC and funds advised by Blackstone ’s GSO Capital Partners LP, which at the time agreed to forgive some debt in exchange for equity while issuing new debt to fund operations.
