U.S. surfwear retailer Boardriders Inc. will use $600 million of loans to back its purchase of Australian peer Billabong International Ltd, Reuters reported. The acquisition, announced on January 4, comes roughly two years after California-based Boardriders — formerly known as Quiksilver — emerged from a five-month stint in bankruptcy court precipitated by competition and operational issues that plagued performance. The designer and distributor of brands including Quiksilver, Roxy and DC Shoes filed for chapter 11 protection in September 2015 and transferred control to U.S. private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management, its largest debtholder, as part of the restructuring process. The investment firm currently holds 19 percent of Billabong, owner of the eponymous brand as well as RVCA, Element, VonZipper and Xcel.
Ronny Shmoel, a New York businessman who bought the Circuit City brand, domain name and associated trademarks in October 2015, plans to relaunch the website next month selling consumer electronics merchandise, the Richmond Times reported. Shmoel announced on Monday that his plans for bringing back Circuit City will begin with the launch of “a dynamic, social-focused e-commerce site” on Feb. 15. Shmoel said that the company would then expand operations by opening kiosks, stores within other stores, and eventually its own showrooms, according to TWICE, a consumer electronics industry publication. He didn’t provide specific details.
Billionaires Paul Singer and Donald Sussman took a run this week at the quiet, powerful fee committee that has blessed hundreds of millions of dollars of spending in Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s bankruptcy, according to a WSJ Pro Bankruptcy commentary. With hundreds of millions more in legal and adviser bills expected to arrive before the big bankruptcy wraps up, Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. and Sussman’s Paloma Partners Management Co. said that it is time for the fee-review panel to open up its books to some fresh eyes. The result was a mixed victory, according to the commentary. Judge Christopher Sontchi agreed that creditors need an active, paid representative on the committee. He disagreed that Elliott and Paloma — the most significant creditors left standing in Energy Future’s long-running case — should get to choose and pay that representative.
Revel, the failed $2.4 billion casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built as a high-end playground for Wall Street bankers, sold for $200 million to a Colorado developer who plans to reopen it under the name Ocean Resort Casino, Bloomberg News reported. The Revel opened in 2012 as the tallest building in the seashore town with Beyoncé as its headliner. It closed two years later after two trips to bankruptcy court, and a judge allowed Florida developer Glenn Straub to buy the property for $82 million in 2016. Bruce Deifik, founder of Denver-based Integrated Properties, on Monday confirmed he bought the casino from Straub. Deifik said the 1,400-room property would open by summer, creating as many as 3,000 local jobs. In a nod to prior criticisms of the property as well as to attract new customers, Deifik said he planned to add an Asian noodle bar and a high-end players’ club. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided financing for the deal, Jordan Deifik, chief operating officer of Integrated Properties, said in an interview.
Crews from Ad Light Group, a Denver-based sign company, yesterday began to disconnect the electrical wires behind the Sports Authority signs scattered around the Broncos facility, the Denver Post reported. The process is expected to be completed within the next week or so, with the sign on the south side of the stadium coming down first. The Broncos have yet to secure a new naming rights partner, but announced last week that they planned to remove the signs of the defunct company in the meantime. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and the Broncos later assumed the remainder of Metropolitan Football Stadium District’s naming rights contract, worth about $20 million over five years. The name will remain in place because of already-booked events inside the building and in the bowl itself.
Owners of unsecured bonds in rig firm Seadrill have posted a cash deposit to back an alternative financial restructuring, paving the way for talks with the drilling operator over its future, Reuters reported. Seadrill, once the largest drilling rig operator by market value, filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court on Sept. 12 after being hit hard by cutbacks in oil company investment following a steep drop in crude prices. The company’s main owner, Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, drew up Seadrill’s original $1.1 billion restructuring plan with Centerbridge Partners L.P. and a group of hedge funds in September. A U.S. bankruptcy court in Texas had been scheduled to hold a preliminary hearing on Fredriksen’s plan on Jan. 10, but this has been postponed until Feb. 1 after the payment of a deposit for a rival solution.
Several Gander Mountain stores are reopening as Gander Outdoors after Marcus Lemonis of the CNBC business turnaround show "The Profit" bought the company's assets in bankruptcy court, Crain's Detroit Business reported. The outdoor retailer's Utica, Mich., location reopened in mid-December and one in Port Huron is expected for May, according to a press release. Stores in Traverse City, Saginaw, Flint, Kalamazoo, Marquette and Coldwater are to reopen in spring. Lemonis' Camping World Holdings Inc. — Lincolnshire, Ill.-based outdoor and sporting retailer — purchased "certain assets" of Gander Mountain Co. in May. Gander Outdoors will continue to focus on hunting, camping, fishing and other outdoor sports.
Toshiba Corp. is selling billions of dollars of its own claims against its bankrupt Westinghouse Electric Co. nuclear subsidiary in a process expected to attract some of the largest hedge funds and money managers in the world, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Westinghouse’s deal to sell itself to Canadian investment firm Brookfield Business Partners LP for $4.6 billion will leave the company’s creditors fighting over the proceeds when the sale is completed. Westinghouse’s biggest creditors include Boston hedge fund Baupost Group LLC, which purchased billions of dollars of claims against Toshiba in the bankruptcy case from South Carolina utility SCANA Corp. Toshiba, however, has its own claims against Westinghouse, and the Japanese parent company has also acquired claims from one of the utilities to which it owed money.
