Privately-held DuraFiber Technologies Operations and 11 affiliated debtors filed for chapter 7 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, BankruptcyData.com reported today. The company, which supplies industrial textile products, is represented by Domenic E. Pacitti of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg. In July 2017, DuraFiber announced that it was preparing its production facilities in Salisbury, N.C., Shelby, N.C. and Winnsboro, S.C. to be idled if a buyer was not identified by September 11, 2017. A corporate release notes that these actions were taken following “a series of initiatives to lower production costs in response to increased competition in the textile industry, as well as a thorough review of strategic alternatives, including potential asset sales.” DuraFiber’s chapter 7 petition indicates assets greater than $100 million.
Key Safety Systems has agreed to terms on the $1.6 billion purchase of assets of Takata Corp., stricken by a recall of its faulty vehicle air bags, and final documents will be signed in less than two weeks, a lawyer for Takata’s U.S. unit said on Monday, Reuters reported. Takata and its U.S. unit, TK Holdings Inc., filed for bankruptcy in June and the asset sale to Key Safety Systems, or KSS, is the cornerstone of its plan to raise funds to compensate automakers and drivers. <b>Marcia Goldstein</b>, a lawyer for TK Holdings, told a U.S. bankruptcy judge on Monday that a U.S. deal had been reached and was being reviewed by lawyers in Japan, Germany and elsewhere. The sale must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, as well as regulators.
Advanced materials producer Neo Performance Materials Inc., carved from the remains of bankrupt Molycorp Inc., is weighing an initial public offering or an outright sale, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Neo Performance, backed by investment firm Oaktree Capital Group LLC, hasn’t determined which avenue it will pursue but is expected to file for an IPO next month. Neo Performance’s assets don’t include Molycorp’s former rare-earths mine in the California desert, which is the only such mine in the U.S. and was sold separately. Molycorp spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an experimental ore-processing system for rare-earth metals, which are used in hybrid electric cars, iPhones and military hardware such as night-vision goggles and guided weapons, among other applications. When prices plummeted in the mining segment dominated by low-cost Chinese producers, Molycorp couldn’t compete and filed for bankruptcy in June 2015.
Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Kahn on Sept. 19 approved a motion allowing for the sale of Morehead Hospital’s assets, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reported on Saturday. The order is supported by the hospital. Excluded assets include cash and cash equivalents that include investments. Morehead filed for chapter 11 protection on July 10 in the Middle District of North Carolina as part of an attempt at financial reorganization. Hospital trustees have been attempting to find a new operator for more than a year. The bankruptcy filing listed assets and liabilities as both being between $10 million and $50 million, along with between 5,001 and 10,000 creditors. Dana Weston, the hospital’s chief executive, said Friday that the debt is about $58 million.
The board of Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has approved a plan to sell its lucrative microchip business to a group of American and Japanese buyers, bringing the company closer to a deal it may need to survive, the New York Times reported today. Details of the sale must still be finalized, Toshiba said yesterday, leaving open the possibility of another turn in a drawn-out bidding process marked by reversals, acrimony and confusion. The Japanese company said the microchip unit would be sold for 2 trillion yen, or roughly $18 billion. The structure of the deal is complicated, and Toshiba said it would retain partial control of the business. It was not clear yesterday how much would end up being owned by outside investors. Those investors primarily include Bain Capital, an American buyout firm, and two organizations controlled by the Japanese government, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and the Development Bank of Japan.
A half-century reign that propelled him into the realm of the rock stars and celebrities who graced his covers, Jann S. Wenner is putting his company’s controlling stake in Rolling Stone up for sale, relinquishing his hold on a publication he has led since its founding, the New York Times reported. Wenner had long tried to remain an independent publisher in a business favoring size and breadth. But he acknowledged in an interview last week that the magazine he had nurtured would face a difficult, uncertain future on its own. Headwinds buffeting the publishing industry and some costly strategic missteps have steadily taken a financial toll on Rolling Stone, and a botched story three years ago about an unproven gang rape at the University of Virginia badly bruised the magazine’s journalistic reputation.