A bankruptcy judge gave Aereo Inc. approval yesterday to finalize the sale of its technology and remaining assets to TiVo Inc. and other buyers, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The company has said that it is disappointed in the outcome of the sale, which brought in less than $2 million to help pay back creditors of the defunct TV-streaming service. In a recent lawsuit, Aereo accused major broadcasters of chilling bidding on the company's assets. A long-running lawsuit with those same broadcasters led Aereo into bankruptcy. In June, Aereo effectively shut down following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court loss that found that Aereo violated copyright laws by allowing customers to stream broadcast TV without paying a royalty to broadcasters.
Bankruptcy lawyers in charge of information technology staffing firm Cloudeeva Inc. are proposing to sell the New Jersey company at an April auction, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Cloudeeva officials said that staffing competitor First Tek Inc. has already offered $5.6 million for the struggling company, whose roughly 350 full-time and contracted workers are hired as tech support by corporations and governments, according to a bankruptcy court filing. In court papers, Richard Honig, who was put in charge of Cloudeeva's operations as chapter 11 trustee in February, urged Judge Kathryn Ferguson to set an April 7 auction soon. Through his lawyers, Honig said that the company's business has "continued to erode" as employees worry about their jobs and as customers wonder "whether the [company will] remain a reliable source of staffing."
LightSquared Inc. got an offer from hedge fund Solus Alternative Asset Management LP to buy $500 million of a loan held by Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen, who is opposing the bankrupt broadband wireless venture’s reorganization plan, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Solus, which earlier put forth a rival bankruptcy plan for LightSquared, said that it was encouraged instead to suggest improvements to the company’s own proposal, its fifth effort to exit court protection. The hedge fund said that it would pay Ergen in cash and invest another $89.5 million in LightSquared, taking 34.3 percent of its stock.
Aereo Inc., the online-TV service brought down by a U.S. Supreme Court copyright ruling, accused Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and other broadcasters of derailing the company’s bankruptcy auction in a bid to stifle competition, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Aereo on Feb. 24 sold its patents, hardware and other assets piecemeal for less than $2 million -- a fraction of what it sought -- after a key bidder backed out, the company said in a lawsuit filed on Monday bankruptcy court. The potential buyer, which Aereo didn’t name, was scared off by a suggestion by Disney and other broadcasters that it may be liable for Aereo’s past copyright violations, for which the group is seeking almost $95 million in damages.
Energy Future Holdings Corp. has won court permission to pay down as much as $750 million of a $2.15 billion bond issue, a move that will save $66 million in interest this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Energy Future’s request for an early partial payoff was approved after a brief discussion at a bankruptcy court hearing yesterday. The money’s going to one of more than half a dozen camps of creditors battling over the value in the big energy company, which has everything from mines to get coal out of the ground to a big stake in a transmissions business that’s operated under the watchful eye of Texas regulators, Oncor. Dallas-based Energy Future had an exit strategy in mind last year when it filed for chapter 11 protection. That strategy fell by the wayside after the Oncor stake became a takeover target. The Oncor stake is going up for auction, and the rest of Energy Future is up for grabs in bankruptcy. The company is trying to round up a consensus for a restructuring plan that will allow it to divide its businesses while avoiding a big tax bill.
A bankruptcy judge approved an offer on Friday from two former Tengion Inc. executives for the regenerative-medicine company’s assets, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reported on Saturday. Tengion filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 29, listing $2.78 million in assets and $32.7 million in liabilities, including $31.6 million held by secured creditors. RegenMedTX LLC offered a private sale for all of Tengion’s assets, including tissue engineering research samples and taking over office leases in Winston-Salem. The bid represented $1.5 million in cash and a waiver of more than $20 million in secured claims by creditors Celegen Corp, RA Capital Healthcare Funds and Deerfield Special Solutions Fund LP. Listed among the buyers is Tim Bertram, Tengion’s former president of research and development and chief science officer, and Deepak Jain, former chief technology officer. The creditors also are listed as buyers. RA Capital was listed as the largest single secured creditor at $5.49 million, followed by Celgene at $5.1 million.
The bankruptcy liquidation case of Douglas Battery Manufacturing Co. is over after more than three years with only secured creditor claims of two family members being paid, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reported on Saturday. Lexington Road, owner of Douglas Battery Manufacturing, filed for chapter 11 protection in January 2012, and the bankruptcy was converted voluntarily to chapter 7 in June 2012. Nearly $6.67 million in priority secured and unsecured claims will go unpaid. The bankruptcy estate gained about $1.32 million in gross receipts from the sale of assets and properties, 70 percent of which went to administrative and other legal costs. Thomas S. Douglas III will receive $250,000 for his secured claim on the sale of company real estate, while Thomas S. Douglas will receive $77,986 for his secured claim from the sale of personal property and intangibles.
The bankruptcy case for landmark Washington, D.C., watering hole Hawk ‘n’ Dove ended abruptly on Wednesday with a settlement between the bar’s owners and a group led by D.C. restaurateur Xavier Cervera, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The judge overseeing the bankruptcy has dismissed the case at the owners’ request. Details about the settlement between Cervera, who sold Hawk ‘n’ Dove and eight other restaurants in 2012, and the investors who bought them weren’t disclosed. Hawk ‘n’ Dove and eight other restaurants filed for bankruptcy nearly a year ago — March 28, 2014 — as their owners were facing a deadline to make a payment Xavier Cervera and his partners. As part of the 2012 sale, Cervera and the other sellers agreed to take $4.5 million upfront and another roughly $9.7 million in smaller payments made over time, according to documents filed bankruptcy court.
Cache, a women’s dress and formal wear retailer, is about to launch going-out-of-business sales at its more than 150 stores nationwide, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The latest in an increasingly long line of troubled women’s retailers to seek chapter 11 protection, Cache started its run through bankruptcy hoping to find a buyer willing to keep some stores alive. That aspiration ultimately failed, though a 25-hour auction did drive up the price of the company’s remaining assets. An attorney for Cache told a judge on Tuesday that the marathon auction, which lasted all day Monday and through the night, is expected to bring in $18 million for creditors. The $16.4 million that Cache still owes Salus Capital Partners will be completely repaid, leaving some money for lower-ranked creditors like vendors and landlords.
The judge overseeing RadioShack Corp's chapter 11 bankruptcy case yesterday approved a revised $1.5 million bonus plan for eight top executives at the electronics retailer, over the objection of the U.S. Trustee in the case, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon said that while he shared some of the trustee's concerns over the key executive incentive plan, he was convinced the executives would be "up to their elbows" with the sale of 2,000 RadioShack stores. Shannon also said he was impressed the plan's payout had been reduced through negotiations. Acting U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara on Saturday filed an objection to the plan, initially set at $2 million. Vara said it would reward the executives for staying put at RadioShack after reaching the stalking-horse bid for the 2,000 stores. The bid was reached before RadioShack filed for bankruptcy in February. RadioShack said that its executives worked to increase the value of the bid by $30 million during negotiations. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/04/radioshack-bankruptcy-bonusplan-idUSL1N0W62N620150304
In related news, RadioShack Corp.'s creditors ironed out the final details of a $285 million bankruptcy loan at a court hearing yesterday amid indications that suppliers, landlords and other unsecured creditors will sustain significant damage in the retailer's chapter 11 proceeding, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The Fort Worth, Texas, company filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 5 after a long losing streak. It is selling off and shutting down about half its 4,000-store chain, but hopes to keep the rest in operation, in the hands of new owners. (Subscription required.) http://bankruptcynews.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFDBR0120150304eb34p25nb&cid=32135009&ctype=ts
