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Family Christian, the biggest U.S. Christian bookstore chain, said yesterday that it was going out of business and planned to close its 240 stores across 36 states, Reuters reported. "Despite improvements in product assortment and the store experience, sales continued to decline," said Chuck Bengochea, the company's president. "In addition, we were not able to get the pricing and terms we needed from our vendors to successfully compete in the market." The chain filed for chapter 11 protection in February 2015 with more than $120 million in debt in the face of a sales slump amid growing competition from online stores.

Buyout firm Sycamore Partners has won the auction for the e-commerce business and intellectual property of bankrupt U.S. women's apparel retailer The Limited with a bid of $26.8 million, Reuters reported yesterday. Sycamore Partners outbid clothing firm Sunrise Brands LLC in the auction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the outcome has not yet been announced. The sale to Sycamore Partners must still be approved by a U.S. bankruptcy court judge. The Limited was forced to close its roughly 250 brick-and-mortar stores earlier this year. It filed for bankruptcy last month, with Sycamore Partners as a stalking-horse bidder. Sunrise Brands, whose holdings include branded apparel for actresses Melissa McCarthy and Eva Longoria, submitted an offer for The Limited last week.

Creditors of Abengoa Bioenergy US Holding, a unit of Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa SA, have reached an agreement over the distribution of asset sale proceeds, removing a key hurdle for the company to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. Abengoa Bioenergy was one of dozens of U.S. Abengoa subsidiaries that filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last year while the Seville-based parent worked out a high-stakes plan to cut $10 billion of debt and avoid its own bankruptcy in Spain. The bioenergy company sold ethanol plants last year and raised roughly $140 million in cash, which was claimed by lenders of the Abengoa parent in Spain as well as the unit's unsecured creditors and suppliers in the United States. Under a deal reached this week, Abengoa's big bank lenders such as Santander will receive their pro rata share of $32.5 million of cash from the asset sale proceeds, while the rest will be distributed among the other creditors.