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Seacret Direct LLC, a seller of beauty and wellness products, is considering making a bid for WorldVentures Marketing LLC, a travel business that filed for bankruptcy recently, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The potential purchase came to light Wednesday when WorldVentures made its initial appearance in bankruptcy court after seeking protection from creditors last week. Lawyers for WorldVentures said that the company plans to sell itself or its assets. It said nearly two dozen potential buyers have signed nondisclosure agreements, and that it is trying to line up a lead bidder for a court-supervised sale process. Before the bankruptcy, WorldVentures and Seacret had been in discussions about a possible merger or acquisition, bankruptcy documents show. In July, they struck a deal to allow WorldVentures sales representatives to buy and sell Seacret products, and in November they signed a nonbinding letter of intent to try to complete a definitive asset purchase agreement. Seacret remains a potential buyer of WorldVentures, Seacret lawyer Phillip Lamberson said during the hearing. The Plano, Texas-based WorldVentures blamed its chapter 11 filing partly on missteps by past management and the coronavirus pandemic. WorldVentures and some of its sales representatives also have been investigated by regulators in several markets. Those investigations resulted in fines and hurt the brand’s reputation, said Erik Toth, chief restructuring officer for bankrupt affiliate Spherature Investments LLC, in a court filing. Toth is also managing partner for Larx Advisors Inc., which has been hired as restructuring adviser during the reorganization.

Both the 371-acre Southern Vermont College campus and the Gate House building at the entrance drive appear on course to be sold following judicial orders filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Vermont, the Bennington (Vt.) Banner reported. Judge Colleen Brown has approved orders allowing the sale of the campus and buildings to Southwestern Vermont Health Care before January and for the separate sale of the Gate House building on 2.28-acres on Monument Drive to Kenneth Milman of Bennington. Raymond Obuchowski, the court-appointed trustee representing the estate of the former college, which closed in May 2019, said earlier this week that no appeals or objections had yet surfaced that might slow or halt the sales. SVHC, the corporate parent of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, offered $4.65 million for the campus during a bidding process held before the bankruptcy court on Dec. 11. At that time, the health care organization outbid Moshe Perlstein, of New Jersey, a youth camp operator who held two camps for teens on the campus over the summer, and businessman and investor Paul Belogour and his Vermont RE Development, LCC. Perlstein dropped out of the bidding at $4.6 million, while Belogour stopped bidding at $3.95 million.

Ebony Media Operations LLC plans to sell its business to an investment group led by former NBA player Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman for about $14 million, the only serious offer received by the bankrupt publisher of Black magazines, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Last July the owner of its namesake magazine was forced into bankruptcy by Parkview Capital Credit and other creditors that said they wanted to take over the publication, which has chronicled Black culture for 75 years but has fallen on hard times. The involuntary bankruptcy came weeks after Ebony’s main shareholder was fired as chief executive and removed from the board. The company said it would investigate financial transactions he had made, allegedly without board or lender approval. Ebony stopped publishing in print in 2019. The company’s assets consist mostly of intellectual property, including Ebony and Jet trademarks, the related domain names and websites, and certain legacy published materials. In October, Bridgeman Sports & Media LLC was named the lead bidder subject to better and higher offers in a process supervised by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. On Friday, said in a court filing that no other qualified bids had been submitted as of a bid deadline the previous day and that Bridgeman Sports had been declared the successful bidder. A bankruptcy judge is scheduled today to consider whether to approve the proposed sale.

Lord & Taylor, Stein Mart, Pier 1 Imports and Motherhood Maternity don’t have physical stores in their future, but their new owners are betting they can unlock value from these well-known brands by recasting them as e-commerce players, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A handful of brand-acquisition and licensing companies are hoping the growth in online shopping that helped drive a record number of retailers into bankruptcy this year will also play a role in resurrecting these repackaged brands into online-only businesses. Investors such as Marquee Brands LLC, which is backed by investment manager Neuberger Berman Group LLC, and Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC, the Miami-based brainchild of two serial entrepreneurs, have acquired control of several familiar retail names. After paying to acquire the intellectual-property rights of the brands, these investors are using a combination of social-media savvy, targeted-brand promotion and direct-to-consumer marketing to reach shoppers. For the relaunched brands, the months during the pandemic when Americans shopped mostly online offered a unique opportunity to expand the brands’ reach. Online retail sales, including curbside pickups, are projected to jump 50% this year, according to analytics provider 1010data.

LRGHealthcare President and CEO Kevin Donovan said that Concord (N.H.) Hospital is the sole health care institution interested in acquiring Lakes Region General Hospital, Franklin Regional Hospital and the hospitals’ ambulatory sites through chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, the Laconia Daily Sun reported. LRGHealthcare has filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court to cancel a bankruptcy auction set for today. Once the parties are granted a final order, they can begin the process of seeking approval from regulatory agencies, including the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. LRGHealthcare filed for chapter 11 protection on Oct. 19, citing more than $100 million in debt. The move came after two years of efforts by LRGH to solve its financial problems through a merger or acquisition.

Ascena Retail Group Inc. has won court approval to sell its Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, Loft and Lou & Grey retail brands out of bankruptcy to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal valued at about $1 billion, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va., said yesterday that he would approve the sale of the majority of Ascena’s remaining assets to Sycamore Partners. The private-equity firm, which specializes in retail and consumer investments, had agreed last month to a purchase price of $540 million, subject to certain adjustments, the assumption of some liabilities and other terms. The deal, which could close by next week, will preserve the business as a going concern with at least 900 stores. As of late August, Ascena operated 1,500 retail locations throughout the U.S., down from its previous roughly 2,800 stores.