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Relativity Media Allowed to Auction Off Assets in Bankruptcy

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Relativity Media LLC, the troubled maker of films including “The Fighter” and “Act of Valor,” will gain court permission to sell itself in an auction to begin with a $250 million bid by some of its pre-bankruptcy lenders, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles said yesterday that he was preparing to approve the company’s sale request with some alterations. A court fight had pitted Ryan Kavanaugh’s film studio and senior debt holders against a more junior debt holder that had objected. Anchorage Capital Group LLC and Luxor Capital Group LP, both pre-existing lenders to Relativity through a senior term loan, are backing the $250 million offer.

Bankruptcy Judge Sets Sept. 25 Auction for Some Z’Tejas Restaurants

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Investors who want to challenge a $3.7 million offer for some Z’Tejas restaurants face a Sept. 15 bid deadline under a sale timeline recently set by a bankruptcy judge, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In his court order signed on Monday, Bankruptcy Judge Paul Sala set a Sept. 25 auction date for some restaurants in the chain, which filed for bankruptcy last month, saying consumer spending had fallen while food and labor costs had grown. The auction for some restaurants in the Scottsdale, Ariz., chain will kick off with a $3.7 million purchase offer from a bidder called Cornbread Ventures LP, which promised to continue to operate five restaurants in Arizona and three in Austin, Texas. The chain filed for bankruptcy July 22 with Cornbread Ventures’ purchase offer in hand. The buyer is offering to pay $2.3 million in cash and forgive about $1.4 million in loans it has extended to the restaurants.

Judge Approves A&P’s Sale of Pharmacy Assets to Rite Aid

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Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain said yesterday that Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. could sell pharmacy assets at 12 of its in-store pharmacies to Rite Aid Corp. for $8.1 million, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The approval by Judge Drain means the closings of the pharmacies will begin today and last through the beginning weeks of September. Rite Aid is buying inventory and customer-prescription information from pharmacies at 12 of the 25 A&P supermarkets that are closing. As part of the deal, Rite Aid will notify customers in writing that their prescription information is being moved, a recommendation made by Elise S. Frejka, a consumer privacy ombudsman appointed in the case. A&P said in court papers last week that it received seven bids for pharmacy assets at 22 of the 25 stores it is immediately closing, and the Rite Aid deal was the only one that exceeded the $5 million threshold that requires Judge Drain’s approval.

Judge Approves Merger of Brunswick Hospitals

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A bankruptcy judge approved the pending sale of Parkview Adventist Medical Center to its nearby rival, Mid Coast Hospital, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Cary signed the order on Thursday allowing the merger of the two Brunswick hospitals to proceed as part of a bankruptcy action filed in June by Parkview. The order stipulates that approval of the sale is in the best interests of the Parkview, the bankruptcy estate and its creditors. The terms of the agreement calls for Mid Coast to pay Parkview $3.8 million at the closing, to forgive $579,540 of an advance it gave to Parkview during the bankruptcy proceeding and to commit $1 million each year for three consecutive into the Parkview campus. All 190 Parkview employees are expected to be rehired by Mid Coast.

A&P Seeks Approval to Sell Pharmacy Assets to Rite Aid

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Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. wants fast court approval to sell off the assets of some of its in-store pharmacies to Rite Aid Corp. for up to $8.1 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. A&P said in a Thursday court filing that Rite Aid has agreed to buy inventory and customer-prescription information from pharmacies at 12 stores that are closing. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain has approved the grocer's request for a hearing today on the matter.

RadioShack Creditors Clear Path for End of Bankruptcy

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RadioShack’s creditors committee has secured court backing for a settlement with senior lenders that removes a potential impediment to approval of the company’s bankruptcy plan at a confirmation hearing next week, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Separately, a hearing on a demand by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that holders of gift cards receive information from the court was rescheduled for Aug. 26, the date of the confirmation hearing. When RadioShack sold assets this year, including more than 1,700 stores to the Standard General hedge fund, senior lenders got $12 million from the proceeds. The money was put into escrow accounts for paying expenses and settlements of lawsuits in which the senior lenders have indemnification from RadioShack, which changed its name to RS Legacy Corp. after the sale. The unsecured creditors’ committee threatened to sue, claiming defects in the senior lenders’ lien package. By settling, lenders agreed to collect only from the escrow account in compensation for indemnification claims, in return for the unsecured creditors’ agreement not to sue.

Renault Winery Set for Sept. 22 Bankruptcy Auction

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Attorneys for the bankrupt-but-still-open Renault Winery Resort and Golf asked a federal judge this week to schedule a Sept. 22 auction for virtually all of the property’s assets, including a 150-year-old vineyard billed as one of the oldest continuously operating wine producers in the U.S., the Press of Atlantic City (N.J.) reported today. The resort filed for bankruptcy protection last November, having fallen behind on loans from mortgagee OceanFirst Bank. The bank obtained a $7.7 million mortgage foreclosure judgment against Renault last summer. Offers are being solicited for the entire property or for each of three components: a restaurant and 54-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, and a restaurant and 40-acre winery, said Hank Waida, managing director of Equity Partners HG, the investment banking firm running the auction.

SME Bankruptcy Trust Sells $85 Million Natural-Gas Plant

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A little-used gas-fired power plant built by the Southern Montana Electricity (SME) Generation and Transmission Cooperative and at least partly blamed for the wholesale electricity supplier's 2011 bankruptcy will be taken apart and resold for its parts, the Associated Press reported yesterday. HGS Holding Trust entered a dismantling and sale agreement with ProEnergy Solutions for the 46-megawatt Highwood Generating Station near Great Falls, officials with both the trust and the Sedalia, Mo.-based company said yesterday. Neither Trustee Dean Swick nor ProEnergy president of energy parts solutions Bill Mars would disclose the price paid for the plant, which SME borrowed $85 million to build. "After exploring various liquidation strategies, the Trust, with the support of Southern, has determined dismantling and removing HGS will best maximize its value," Swick said in a statement.

KKR’s Samson Said Planning for Bankruptcy as Soon as Aug. 15

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Samson Resources Corp. is close to entering an agreement with its lenders that will put the energy company into bankruptcy court as soon as Aug. 15, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company is talking with loan holders led by Silver Point Capital LP and Cerberus Capital Management LP to iron out details on a proposal that would give the company a loan of about $300 million to fund operations during chapter 11 proceedings. Lenders would gain control of the gas producer from investors led by KKR & Co. If a restructuring plan isn’t complete by Aug. 15, when a $110 million interest payment comes due on its bonds, the company will skip the payment and continue talks during a 30-day grace period.

Surflight's Highest Bidder Not High Enough

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The future of Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, N.J., is up in the air after the highest bid during Thursday’s auction failed to cover the more than $3.5 million in debts associated with the site, The (Atlantic City) Press reported yesterday. The highest bidder for the complex was $2 million. Under the terms of the auction, bids had to be approved by the bankruptcy trustee. The more than half-acre property features a 450-seat theater, the 5,400-square-foot Dolores Moeller House, the 3,544-square-foot Show Place Ice Cream Parlour, the 4,216-square-foot Centre Street Administrative Building and a 1,560-square-foot single-family home. The Surflight was founded in 1950 and the theater was later moved to a garage-like building in Beach Haven, where audiences sat on folding chairs that surrounded three sides of the stage.
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