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The operator of the former Bell Bank Park sports complex in Mesa, Ariz., filed for bankruptcy more than a year after opening, seeking a sale to repay roughly $300 million in defaulted municipal debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Legacy Cares, the nonprofit operator of the 320-acre sports complex, filed for chapter 11 on Monday, saying in court filings that it would seek to sell its assets, which are “severely underwater.” It listed $242 million worth of assets and over $366 million of liabilities in its filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix. The nonprofit, which had borrowed in the municipal bond market to build the park, defaulted on its interest payments last year. Revenue fell far short of projections, and Legacy Cares recently hired restructuring firm Miller Buckfire to consider options. The park loses roughly $1 million a month on its operations, a burn rate that will only increase as it approaches the summer, its slowest part of the year, according to Legacy Cares’ court papers. It has lined up a $9 million loan from UMB Bank NA, the trustee for municipal bondholders, to fund the expenses of the chapter 11 case.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will buy most of First Republic Bank's assets in a last-ditch rescue led by U.S. regulators, marking the third major U.S. institution to fail in two months, Reuters reported. The deal, announced today by regulators who said they had seized First Republic, will see the banking giant take $173 billion of loans, $30 billion of securities and $92 billion of deposits of the failed lender. There were no details on how much JPMorgan would pay. San Francisco-based First Republic came under intense pressure after disclosing last week that it had suffered more than $100 billion in outflows in the first quarter and was exploring options. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said it had taken possession of First Republic and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) would act as its receiver. The FDIC estimated in a statement that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund would be about $13 billion. The final cost will be determined when the FDIC terminates the receivership. Read more.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET titled, “Holding Executives Accountable After Recent Bank Failures.” Click here for more information. 

Binance.US terminated an agreement to purchase the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital Holdings Ltd., less than a week after federal regulators dropped their efforts to halt the deal in court, Bloomberg News reported. The decision came after months of wrangling and the intervention of multiple federal and state regulators over the deal. In a statement, Binance.US said “the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States has introduced an unpredictable operating environment impacting the entire American business community.” “While this development is disappointing, our chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers via the Voyager platform,” the company said on Twitter. “Consistent with the plan, we will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions. We will provide more information on next steps and any actions customers need to take in the coming days.” It is the second failed deal for Voyager, which has been trying to exit bankruptcy and repay its customers since filing for chapter 11 protection last year. Voyager was among the first examples of crypto platforms that Sam Bankman-Fried tried to bail out, which at the time earned him a reputation as an industry savior. In September, FTX US won an auction for Voyager assets in an agreement valued at about $1.4 billion. Mere months later, with FTX International facing bankruptcy of its own and Bankman-Fried under arrest on criminal charges, that deal collapsed. In December, Binance.US entered the fray with a proposal worth around $1 billion at the time and that would have brought in about $20 million in cash for creditors of the failed firm.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has agreed to sell U.S. derivatives exchange LedgerX for $50 million, a fraction of its purchase price when FTX bought it, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. If the court overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy approves the sale, it would mark a nearly $250 million loss for FTX on its investment in LedgerX, which the company acquired for about $298 million in August 2021, according to a copy of FTX’s 2021 annual financial documents seen by The Wall Street Journal. An affiliate of Miami International Holdings Inc., which operates a number of options exchanges in the U.S., is the proposed buyer for LedgerX. Proceeds from the sale would help FTX’s new management close the $9 billion gap in customer funds it entered bankruptcy with last year. The proposed deal “is an example of our continuing efforts to monetize assets to deliver recoveries to stakeholders,” said John J. Ray III, FTX’s chief executive. In the years before FTX filed for bankruptcy, it went on a streak of investing in and buying other crypto companies. FTX, Alameda Research and other entities controlled by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried put more than $5 billion into more than 150 startups, as well as venture firms like Sequoia Capital.

Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco LLC asked the judge overseeing its reorganization to appoint a mediator in order to save the outline of a deal with its parent, Digital Currency Group, Bloomberg News reported. Genesis is seeking mediation to take place over a two-day period prior to May 9, and ahead of a mid-May due date on $630 million of debt owed to Genesis by DCG. “While these discussions were initially focused on resolving issues left open in the restructuring term sheet, more recent discussions have made it clear that a mediator is necessary to assist the mediation parties in reaching a resolution,” Genesis said in a bankruptcy filing. In particular, the unsecured creditor committee is opposed to the restructuring proposal as it stands now and are seeking better terms, according to two people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named discussing private information. For its part, DCG in a tweeted statement said that “a subset of creditors have decided to walk away” from a settlement agreement that was submitted to the court. “DCG remains committed to reaching a fair outcome and while we look forward to a constructive mediation process, we will have to weigh any new demands against the concessions we’ve previously made.” “Given that DCG owes GGC approximately $630 million pursuant to certain fixed term loans due during the second week of May ... the Debtors believe that the mediation should be scheduled immediately,” the filing said.

Pfizer Inc. has completed its $36.4 million acquisition of assets of Lucira Health Inc., the Emeryville company that filed for bankruptcy protection after developing the first at-home molecular diagnostic test for COVID-19 and recently won approval for a combined COVID-flu test, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Pfizer, the maker of a COVID vaccine and COVID treatment, was chosen last week by Lucira and a committee of creditors over a higher bid by a unit of Aditxt Inc. Lucira and the committee said Pfizer's resources gave it the best ability to not only close the deal but carry on Lucira's product line. The bidding for Lucira's assets pitted Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker by revenue with nearly $23 billion in cash, equivalents and short-term investments, against the Pearsanta unit of immune system-focused Aditxt, which had to borrow $1 million to make the deposit to participate in the auction. Pfizer's bid consisted of $5 million cash and more than $20 million to cure various Lucira contracts and another $11 million for the manufacturer of the test kits, Jabil Inc. If the total cures come in under the $20 million mark, the difference will go to the Lucira estate.