%1

Bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack received court approval on Friday for its plan to try to sell the leases to more than 1,100 stores that it will close by the end of February, Reuters reported. RadioShack first proposed closing many of the locations early last year as it struggled to turn around its money-losing operations, but lenders demanded the stores remain open. After filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month, RadioShack moved quickly to abandon the stores to avoid paying March rent. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon gave his approval to the bidding and auction process for the leases, which has been under way for weeks. The company will seek court approval today for the auction process for up to 2,400 stores. An affiliate of the hedge fund Standard General has agreed to act as the stalking-horse bidder for those locations, which will remain open.

A bankruptcy judge Friday approved the sale of the assets of Dendreon Corp., a troubled cancer drug maker, to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. for $495 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The sale underwent significant modifications as recently as Thursday night, adding an extra $95 million to the purchase price. A string of objections to the sale were all resolved consensually, some just hours before Friday's hearing began. Unsecured creditors also threw their weight behind the revised deal.

After his Standard General LP became the retailer’s largest shareholder last year with a 9.9 percent stake, Soohyung Kim repeatedly pressed RadioShack’s leadership to give up on the business of selling phones attached to long-term service agreements, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The business, he argued, was by far the biggest reason the company wasn’t profitable. Now, the New York hedge fund is putting its money where its mouth is, seeking to lead the purchase of about half the company’s stores out of bankruptcy protection and refocus them on the cables and gadgets that were once a staple of the Fort Worth, Texas-based chain. Sprint Corp. would manage phone sales in a “store-within-a-store” setup. The fund has discussed contributing about $75 million toward a $200 million bid for the new RadioShack, a person familiar with the matter said, a deal that would essentially trade a rescue loan it contributed to and arranged for the retailer last year for an ownership stake. But some analysts give the revamped retailer long odds of success.

Energy Future Holdings Corp. has asked court permission to start paying down some of its debt as it moves ahead in discussions with creditors to formulate a chapter 11 exit plan, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The proposed payoff of as much as $750 million against a $2.15 billion issue of bonds involves debt linked to the division that owns a majority stake in Oncor, a valuable Texas transmissions business. The Oncor stake is going up for auction, and "it is almost certain" that investors have more than enough collateral to secured the debt of the division, Energy Future Intermediate, company lawyers wrote.

Bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. kicked off a process to auction leases of about 1,700 stores to avoid paying an estimated $7 million in rent next month, Reuters reported yesterday. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protections last week, filed a motion yesterday in bankruptcy court to approve the procedures for the sale of the leases. RadioShack had a tentative deal to sell as many as 2,400 of its 4,100 stores to an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, one of its lenders and largest shareholders. But that agreement is subject to higher bids. As part of that deal, Sprint Corp. is working with Standard General to sell mobile devices as well as RadioShack products, services and accessories in at least 1,750 of those stores. RadioShack had received court approval on Monday to borrow $10 million to support operations until it opens the bidding for its best-performing stores.

A group of investors led by a California real estate firm has purchased 127 acres at Lake Las Vegas from hedge fund manager John Paulson's real estate investment arm for $12.5 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. R.Y. Properties, an Alhambra, Calif.-based developer, said Wednesday that it had bought 344 lots from Paulson's real estate unit and plans to develop three communities on the site of what was formerly The Falls golf course at Lake Las Vegas.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said that it will buy bankrupt cancer vaccine maker Dendreon Corp. after no additional qualified bids came forward by yesterday’s deadline, Reuters reported. Valeant, of Laval, Quebec, will get Seattle-based Dendreon's Provenge cancer treatment and other assets for $400 million in cash. Dendreon and Valeant will seek court approval of the sale on Feb. 20, Valeant said. It expects to close the deal by the end of this month.

RadioShack Corp.’s proposed bankruptcy financing cleared court yesterday as the retailer continues the process of racing to sell out and shut down some 1,100 stores by the end of the month, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Up to 2,100 RadioShack stores won’t survive the chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company has said. Going-out-of-business sales began Friday at more than 1,700 stores across the country as RadioShack began the process of trimming its collection of more than 4,000 outlets. Liquidators kicked off the process over the weekend by marking down merchandise, seeking to clear out stores as soon as possible so that new tenants can take over. A&G Realty Partners LLC yesterday started shopping around those leases to restaurants, shoe stores, jewelry shops and other retailers that would likely be in the market for a small-format location.

A bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a preliminary deal between Wet Seal Inc. and B. Riley & Co. despite spirited opposition from rival bidder Versa Capital Management LLC, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi signed off a modified deal proposing that B. Riley take 80 percent of the equity in a reorganized Wet Seal in exchange for $25 million, $5 million more than had initially been offered. The remaining 20 percent of the company would be set aside for unsecured creditors.

Women's retailer Cache Inc. hasn't given up hope on finding a buyer to keep its 218 stores alive, but in the meantime it is looking to secure bankruptcy court approval to begin store-closeout sales by early March, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. During the company's first appearance in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., yesterday, attorneys for Cache said that going-out-of-business sales would start March 4 under a current timeline if no bidders come forward to top an offer from a pair of liquidators. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath, who still has to approve the schedule, expressed some skepticism on Thursday at the direction the case is going. "Why am I authorizing a sale that's going to be complete in 30 days, when it appears nobody but the lender's going to get any money?" Judge Walrath asked. "We don't know that there won't be value," Cache attorney Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP said, noting that while the company has been shopping itself around for some time, a buyer could still come forward.