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Haggen, the Bellingham, Wash.-based grocery chain whose failed expansion effort landed it in chapter 11 protection, now plans to offer for sale its 32 “core stores” in Washington and Oregon, the Seattle Times reported today. The company had hoped to retreat to those successful stores after selling or closing about 130 others across five Western states, nearly all acquired earlier this year in a bold acquisition of 146 locations from Albertsons and Safeway as those two giants merged. But in a court filing this week Haggen sought permission to take bids for those 32 locations in its home markets. A financing agreement “requires Haggen to explore potential outside opportunities for all of its operations, including the core stores,” the company said in a statement.

Olga’s Kitchen, a Detroit-area brand that fell on hard times as dining habits changed and shopping malls declined, could be purchased out of bankruptcy by Schostak Family Restaurants, which already owns part of 11 Olga's locations that are not part of the bankruptcy, the Detroit Free Press reported today. Livonia, Mich.-based Team Schostak Family Restaurants bid $8.3 million for all 27 remaining Olga's restaurants. Those locations are currently up for grabs in an auction that runs through Monday. Schostak Family Restaurants already owns 50 percent of the 11 Olga's locations not in bankruptcy through a decade-old development agreement with the regional pita wrap chain. If Schostak wins the auction, it would gain full control of those 11 locations — plus ownership of the 15 restaurants that Olga's still runs on its own.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. won bankruptcy-court approval for the sale of eight grocery stores Thursday, part of its ongoing effort to find buyers and complete sales for more than 100 unsold stores, the Wall Street Journal reported today. During a hearing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., Judge Robert Drain approved deals to hand off the eight stores to CVS Pharmacy, Food Emporium, PSK Supermarket Inc. and others. Motions to sell seven additional stores, some of which face objections from local unions, were adjourned to another hearing later this month. To date, the company has lined up buyers for about 190 of its nearly 300 stores, most of which have also already won court approval. Those sales include terms that seek to save about 17,000 jobs but leave many thousands more in jeopardy. A&P says that it is still working with its unions and new store owners to preserve as many jobs as possible.

Coal producer Walter Energy, Inc. is headed to a bankruptcy auction with an offer from senior lenders to cancel or take on $1.25 billion worth of the company's debts to set a floor price for the competition, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In addition to the $1.25 billion "credit bid," Walter's senior lenders are offering $5.4 million cash for the Alabama-based company. In bankruptcy, lenders can pledge the amount they're owed by a bankrupt company when bidding on a company's assets. In effect, the lenders can swap all or a portion of the face amount of the debt they're owed for an ownership stake.

After 18 months in bankruptcy, Energy Future Holdings started what it hopes will be the final phase of its reorganization yesterday, pushing for approval of its fourth major restructuring proposal, Bloomberg News reported. The Dallas-based power provider is asking Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi to sign off on a deal that splits it in half. If Energy Future succeeds, it could mean a solution to problems that grew out of a record, $48 billion leveraged buyout, and end a drawn-out bankruptcy where creditors have already rejected three attempts to reorganize. The deal would create a power distribution unit, including Oncor, Texas’s biggest electric-transmission system, and a power generating unit. Each half would be owned by separate groups of creditors including big name hedge funds specializing in distressed debt. The factions fought over terms for more than a year before reaching a deal with help from Hunt Consolidated, a Dallas-based oil and gas, real estate and power company.

Rare earths supplier Molycorp Inc. said it has filed a joint plan to emerge from chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported yesterday. The plan, which was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware yesterday, has proposed an exit of chapter 11 through a stand-alone reorganization or a sale of substantially all of its assets, the company said in a statement. The Greenwood, Colo.-based company said that it has the backing of its largest pre-petition secured creditor and its post-petition lender and investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in June, along with its North American subsidiaries to restructure $1.7 billion of debt in its U.S. and Canadian operations.

Oaktree Capital Management LP is close to hiring AlixPartners LLP to advise on its efforts to take over Quiksilver Inc., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. As Quiksilver’s primary lender, Oaktree has the inside track on buying the company. However, the surf-wear retailer, which filed for bankruptcy in September, also contacted potential private-equity buyers. Authentic Brands Group is actively looking at the assets. Sycamore Partners, which controls Jones Group Inc., is among firms that spoke to the company, but it passed on a bid.

Patriot Coal Corporation announced that its reorganization plan became effective yesterday, marking the successful completion of the chapter 11 restructuring process, ABL Advisor reported. In conjunction with the plan becoming effective, Patriot has completed the transactions to sell most of Patriot's operating assets to Blackhawk Mining, LLC and to sell substantially all of its remaining assets and liabilities to an affiliate of Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, Inc. Centerview Partners LLC is serving as financial advisor and investment banker for Patriot, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal advisor to Patriot. Alvarez & Marsal is serving as Chief Restructuring Officer for Patriot.

Bankruptcy Judge Gregory R. Schaaf authorized the sale of Nurses Registry and Home Health Corp. to a Louisiana company called LHC Group for $5.7 million, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader reported today. In an order authorizing the sale of the Lexington-based company, Judge Schaaf wrote that LHC Group's proposed purchase "is fair and reasonable, represents the highest and best offer for the purchased assets, and is in the best interests of the debtor, its creditors and its estate." Of the net sale proceeds, 70 percent will go to the U.S. government and 30 percent will go to the bankruptcy estate, according to an order approving the settlement agreement. Another company, Five Points Healthcare LLC in Atlanta, had submitted a bid of $3.5 million for Nurses Registry at a court-authorized auction, but its bid was not accepted. Based in Lafayette, La., LHC Group is a national provider of home health, hospice and comprehensive post-acute health care services.