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Sciens Lines Up Cash for Gun Maker Colt's Bankruptcy Exit

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Sciens Capital Management said on Friday that it has lined up the cash to stay involved in the capital-raising effort designed to pay gun maker Colt Defense LLC 's way out of bankruptcy, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Colt's private-equity owner negotiated a longer timeline to come up with the $15 million it pledged to the turnaround of its long-time portfolio company after missing a Dec. 28 initial funding deadline. The first revised deadline is Friday, and Sciens said that it has sufficient cash to meet it, allowing Colt to exit chapter 11 soon.

St. Paul Archdiocese Property Is Sold to Minn. Historical Society

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A bankruptcy court judge approved the first major sale of real estate belonging to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis yesterday, and the church’s three remaining properties are expected to be sold in the months ahead to pay creditors, the Milwaukee Star Tribune reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel approved the $4.5 million sale of the Monsignor Hayden Center, which now houses most archdiocese offices, to its neighbor the Minnesota Historical Society. The archdiocese also asked the court yesterday to approve a purchase agreement for the archbishop’s residence and the chancery building, across from the St. Paul Cathedral. The agreement — for a price identified only as somewhere between $2.5 million and $3.5 million — is with United Properties Development and is already generating criticism. The sales come about a year after the archdiocese declared bankruptcy following a flood of clergy abuse claims. The buildings and property are its chief assets, with a combined value of at least $10 million. Those assets will be tapped to compensate more than 400 individuals who have filed abuse claims against the church in the past year.

Molycorp Bids Said to Top Miner's Own Price Amid Sales Feud

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Molycorp Inc., the bankrupt rare-earths miner, received bids for assets that exceed the company’s own estimate of its value, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., a U.S.-traded mining company based in Beijing that’s also known as Chalco, offered to pay more than $700 million for the largest U.S. rare-earths producer’s non-U.S. assets. Shenghe Resources Holdings Co., a rare-earths miner and processor based in Chengdu, China, and lithium miner Galaxy Resources Ltd., based in West Perth, Australia, also made offers that exceeded the company’s appraised value range, which tops out at $443 million. U.S. private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP also has held talks about a possible bid.

Bankruptcy Watchdog Questions Back9Network Borrowing Deal

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A bankruptcy watchdog raised concerns about a potential $2 million loan to off-air golf channel Back9Network Inc., saying the deal could lead to an unfair, noncompetitive sale of the channel’s smartphone app to several investors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. In court papers, U.S. Trustee William K. Harrington protested the borrowing deal, saying that the fine print of the agreement could give an advantage to the lender over other potential buyers who might want the TV channel’s business. Under the deal, five investors in the channel have proposed to extend a $2 million loan that could later turn into money for a bid on Back9Network’s smartphone app, which has mapped out more than 35,000 golf courses around the world. The app has been downloaded more than three million times and is used for hundreds of thousands of rounds each month, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, Conn. The borrowing proposal still needs approval from Judge Ann M. Nevins.

Golfer’s Hedge Fund Makes Bid For Nabi Tablet Maker

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A hedge fund founded by golfer Greg Norman is bidding $10 million for the bankrupt manufacturer of the Nabi children’s tablet, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Great White Shark Opportunity Fund LP, a hedge fund founded by the golfer in 2013, made an 11th-hour offer on Wednesday for Fuhu Inc., topping an initial offer from children’s retail giant Mattel Inc. The tablet maker selected the fund, an investment arm of Norman’s sprawling Great White Shark Enterprises, lead bidder for its business at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The fund has also agreed to finance Fuhu’s bankruptcy case with a bankruptcy financing package.

DigitalSound Production Services to Sell Assets

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DigitalSound Production Services Inc., which has provided lighting and sound for bands and movies, won bankruptcy court approval to sell its assets for about $6.4 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Bankruptcy Judge Martin R. Barash on Dec. 24 authorized the sale of the Los Angeles-area company’s assets to Video Equipment Rentals and Production Resource Group LLC, court papers show. DigitalSound attorney Susan Seflin said the deal consists of $4.35 million in cash and the assumption of nearly $2.1 million in liabilities. She said that the sale is set to close on Jan. 5 and is expected to provide jobs for at least 12 of DigitalSound’s 28 employees.

Parallel Energy to Be Sold to Scout Energy

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Scout Energy Partners will buy Parallel Energy LP for $110 million after no rival bidders emerged for the bankrupt Oklahoma oil and gas driller, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. With no other bidders, the company said in court papers that it was canceling a bankruptcy auction scheduled for early January. A hearing to approve the sale is slated for Jan. 13 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Parallel filed for bankruptcy in early November with a stalking- horse bid from an affiliate of Scout, a Texas upstream oil-and-gas investment firm.

Pandora Wins Approval to Buy Rdio for $75 Million

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Pandora Media Inc. said yesterday that it has bought bankrupt subscription music service Rdio Inc. for $75 million, a day after it struck deals with the music industry’s biggest rights licensing groups, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Pandora signed two separate multiyear agreements with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and Broadcast Music Inc. to access their combined catalogs of more than 20 million musical works.

Bankruptcy Judge Approves Alpha’s Bond Deal with West Virginia

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Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens approved a deal resolving a dispute between coal operator Alpha Natural Resources and West Virginia regulators over the company’s mine reclamation bonds, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Judge Huennekens’ order said that the agreement is fair and equitable, and represents “a sound exercise of the Debtors’ business judgment.” He overruled an objection filed by the Sierra Club, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. Tuesday’s order, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, authorized Alpha to enter into a consent order with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Under the consent order, Alpha agreed to reduce its self-bonding obligations and to continue reclaiming mining operations in the state. Alpha also will provide $39 million in financial commitments to back its remaining self-bonded obligations. The company has more than 500 mining permits for its operations in West Virginia.