The COVID-19 crisis, which prompted a wave of retail bankruptcies and nationwide shutdowns, swallowed a whole season’s worth of unsold goods, Bloomberg News reported. That has opened the door for Hilco and Gordon to run sales -- not for the retailers that usually hire them, but under their own nameplates. Shopper’s Find, as the stores are called, are sourcing directly from manufacturers or wholesalers stuck with piles of last season’s fashion and other extra goods. “As more and more stores are closing, there are fewer outlets for inventory,” said Ian Fredericks, the head of Hilco Global’s retail group. When Hilco and Gordon Brothers run their mainstay liquidations, they step in to manage and oversee stores’ operations. That involves not just tasks like displaying merchandise and running the cash register, but adding inventory from vendors to round out what’s available -- bringing in socks, for example, if you are selling shoes, Fredericks said in an interview. Those contacts have proved useful for both sides now that manufacturers need to offload mountains of stuff and the liquidators have found no shortage of cheap rents for spaces to run a new type of cut-rate sale.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. agreed to acquire smaller rival Pioneer Energy Services Corp. in a move that could lead to further consolidation among oversupplied contractors in the oilfield, Bloomberg News reported. The stock-and-cash deal is valued at about about $295 million, which includes the retirement of all of Pioneer’s debt, Houston-based Patterson-UTI said Tuesday in a statement. The addition of Pioneer, which emerged from bankruptcy protection last year, adds rigs to America’s second-biggest drilling fleet and helps Patterson expand outside the U.S. into Colombia. “In a structurally smaller North American market with a customer base that has also consolidated, we applaud this type of consolidating, complementary transaction,” Evercore ISI analysts including Jason Bandel wrote Tuesday in a note to clients. While deals among U.S. shale producers have rebounded this year amid a recovery in crude prices, the oilfield services sector had remained relatively quiet since Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. bought the fracking business from Schlumberger last year in a deal valued at about $450 million at the time.
After nearly a year in the making, American Healthcare Systems, LLC (AHS) purchase of Randolph Health for $10.2 million has been finalized, the Triad Business Journal reported. The deal closed on July 1, allowing AHS to acquire “substantially all of Randolph Health’s operating assets except for the Accounts Receivable,” a spokesperson for Randolph Health said. In early June, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein gave verbal approval of the deal. In March 2020, Randolph Health filed for chapter 11 protection, in accordance with a plan to seek debt restructuring while searching for a suitable buyer. While looking for a suitor, Randolph Health and Randolph County officials applied for a $20 million loan through the Rural Health Stabilization Program. In May, the Local Government Commission approved the Rural Healthcare Stabilization Program application from Randolph County for a loan of $12 million. A statement from the office of N.C. State Treasurer Dale Folwell, said the loan would act as a "linchpin" in the purchase offer from AHS. However, UNC Health, which had a lead role with the Rural Health Stabilization Loan Program committee, performed a separate evaluation of the purchase proposal and said it could not recommend the loan approval because the plan does not represent "a realistic and feasible path forward for Randolph Health." The funding was still approved and will be made available to AHS over several years now that the deal is complete. At this time, no funds have been dispersed, a Randolph Health spokesperson said.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., announced in a community letter that the effort to auction 732 properties for a bankruptcy settlement has been delayed, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The Rev. Glennon Jones, vicar general of the archdiocese, said this week in the letter that the auction company doesn’t have a final list of properties because surveyors’ work continues, property titles still need to be acquired or analyzed, and opening prices haven’t been set. Jones suggested that the postponement reflected no setback and the auction would simply be rescheduled. About 385 victims of sexual abuse by archdiocese clergy members have sued, prompting the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to declare bankruptcy three years ago. The archdiocese now seeks to raise money to settle the case, but the amount hasn’t been determined, an attorney for victims said. Numerous Catholic dioceses across the country have filed for bankruptcy because of abuse by priests. Brad Hall, an Albuquerque attorney who represents a number of victims, said the survivors themselves would vote on whether an amount is appropriate. No such vote is imminent.
Bankrupt mall owner Washington Prime Group Inc. is drawing interest from real estate investment trust RPT Realty Inc. after soliciting purchase bids as part of its “dual path” bankruptcy process, Bloomberg News reported. RPT Realty, which owns about 50 shopping centers across the U.S., is assessing Washington Prime’s properties as part of the mall owner’s chapter 11 restructuring, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private negotiations. Washington Prime said at the time of its bankruptcy filing June 14 that it was already “in discussions with several potentially interested parties,” regarding a sale. The company said that it was exploring bids even after filing a restructuring plan to the bankruptcy court that would see it hand ownership shares to its unpaid creditors in a debt-for-equity swap. Its shares were trading around $2.42 Tuesday morning, down from around $5.00 ahead of the filing. Its plan provides a potential recovery of about 83 cents for common share holders.
The lending arm of JMB Capital Partners has emerged as the lead bidder to take over a retail leasehold for the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in northern Manhattan, offering $43.5 million to acquire the lease from its bankrupt developers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. JMB Capital Partners Lending LLC stepped in after the previous lead bidder, Monarch Alternative Capital LP, hit an impasse in negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey over closing conditions related to the lease, according to court papers filed on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The offer is a stalking-horse bid that puts a floor on the leasehold’s price, subject to better offers. JMB is offering a mix of cash as well as loan forgiveness, according to court documents. At least $17 million will be put in escrow to cure any defaults to the ground lease; the offer includes a closing payment of up to $8.5 million in cash. JMB would also forgive amounts owed under a bankruptcy loan the investment firm provided to development consortium George Washington Bridge Bus Station Development Venture LLC to fund its bankruptcy case, according to court papers. The development consortium sought chapter 11 protection in October 2019, facing cost overruns in its overhaul of the bus station and a dispute with contractor Tutor Perini Corp. The bankruptcy case has lasted longer than anticipated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring the consortium take out an $18 million credit line after seeking court protection.
Nine Point Energy Holdings Inc's lenders must put up cash or a letter of credit to protect a midstream services provider’s interests in certain assets before they can move forward with a proposed $250 million purchase of the bankrupt energy company, a judge ruled on Monday, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath in Wilmington, Delaware, issued her ruling during a virtual hearing that Caliber Midstream Partners LP has statutory liens on certain assets related to around $7.1 million in claims. However, she rejected Caliber’s assertion that it has liens backing Caliber’s larger $150 million claim against Nine Point. The dispute has delayed Nine Point’s efforts to sell its assets to its lenders via a bankruptcy sale. Nine Point had around $273 million in debt when it sought chapter 11 protection in March. The Denver-based company, which blamed its financial trouble on the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-OPEC oil price war, is approaching a July 8 deadline to sell its assets under its loan agreement with the lenders. Its exploration and production services are focused in North Dakota and Montana. Caliber argues that Nine Point can’t go through with the sale to lenders unless Caliber receives adequate protection of its liens, which largely stem from oil and gas gathering, processing and transporting services it provided Nine Point. At the conclusion of Monday’s hearing, Caliber attorney Kevin Barrett rejected an offer from the lenders to assume the liability, with a cap of $7.1 million, for the exact amount the court ultimately deems the valid claims to be worth — which she did not do as part of her ruling. Judge Walrath agreed with Barrett, saying that the lenders need to either set aside some money in escrow, issue a letter of credit or grant a replacement lien for Caliber. “It’s not enough to promise to pay a claim in the future,” she said. Lawyers for the parties will return to Judge Walrath’s virtual hearing on Tuesday to determine how to proceed.
