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Battery maker Exide Technologies has returned to bankruptcy protection for a third and likely final time, with bondholders poised to take over its European and Asia-Pacific operations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Loaded down with about $817 million in debt and hundreds of millions of dollars of environmental problems, Exide is on the ropes financially and was facing liquidation, according to filings yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Talks with backers including investment firms MacKay Shields and Axar Capital Management produced enough financing to provide a possible way out of bankruptcy for the U.S., European and Asia-Pacific businesses, if they are sold. Preparations are under way for Exide to sell or transfer control of contaminated sites in the U.S., including a Vernon, Calif., recycling plant that was shut down in 2015 to ward off a threat of criminal prosecution.

Apex Parks Group LLC, a bankrupt amusement-park company whose operations have been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, is being taken over by a lender group led by Cerberus Capital Management LP for $45 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Cerberus, which has more than $42 billion in credit, private-equity and real-estate assets, is making the purchase in the form of a credit bid. A credit bid is an offer to buy a company by canceling some of the debt owed to the buyer. Apex, based in Irvine, Calif., entered bankruptcy last month with 10 entertainment centers and two water parks operating under such names as Big Kahuna’s, Sahara Sam’s, Boomers and SpeedZone in California, Florida and New Jersey. The company has struggled financially for years, partly due to increased competition. The Cerberus deal is the culmination of a sales process that failed to generate another serious bid, according to a filing on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Creditors want answers about the decline of Dura Automotive Systems LLC, a car-parts maker that was sold out of bankruptcy for $65 million on yesterday, 19 months after attracting buyout interest at prices topping $400 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Finding out what happened to Dura, a former crown jewel of turnaround executive Lynn Tilton’s manufacturing empire, will now fall to a chapter 7 trustee. The judge presiding over Dura’s bankruptcy approved its sale to senior lender Bardin Hill Investment Partners LP, which is taking control of the business in exchange for the cancellation of $65 million in debt. Potential buyers walked away after Dura in December chopped its 2019 earnings numbers by as much as half, according to court papers. During the failed sale process, Tilton collected $485,000 in management fees and charged Dura more than $1.4 million for legal fees, according to court papers. The Michigan company and its European operations will survive bankruptcy, thanks in part to support from customers such as Ford Motor Co. The coronavirus pandemic shutdown has Dura in mothballs, but the parts maker is still an essential part of the supply chain for Ford and others in the auto industry.

One month after filing for bankruptcy, the XFL is reportedly seeking new ownership in an attempt to save the league, according to Axios. Documents show that an investment bank, Houlihan Lokey, intends to manage the process, with letter of intent due by June 12 and formal bids due on July 6. The XFL claims to have been on pace to generate $46 million in revenue during its inaugural season. The league also had an average game attendance of 20,000 and 1.9 million average broadcast viewers for the nationally distributed games. But the pandemic forced the league to cancel the rest of the season, suspend operations and lay off employees.

A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday approved McClatchy Co.’s rules for potential buyers, and the company said all interested parties are ready to submit initial bids by early next week McClatchyDC.com reported. A hearing to approve a buyer is scheduled for July 24. McClatchy and its two largest creditors announced in mid-April that the company was initiating a sales process as negotiations over a restructuring plan lagged. The company said it has had preliminary discussions with 20 potential buyers. But Judge Michael E. Wiles slowed the process last week when he ordered the company and creditors, big and small, to come back to him with agreed upon bid procedures and a timetable. A detailed compromise was offered in court filings late Tuesday and, on Thursday afternoon, Judge Wiles agreed to it with some minor stipulations.

Venerable U.S. retailer Lord & Taylor plans to liquidate inventory in its 38 department stores once restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus are lifted as it braces for a bankruptcy process from which it does not expect to emerge, Reuters reported. Lord & Taylor’s preparations to liquidate its inventory as soon as its stores reopen offer a window into the grim future of a high-profile retailer — a storied department store chain founded in 1826 and billed as the oldest in the United States — that does not expect to survive the pandemic’s economic fallout. Retailers that pursue a liquidation hold “going out of business” sales in order to generate cash, and their stores often become magnets for consumers looking for bargains. Lord & Taylor is holding off on a bankruptcy filing and subsequent liquidation until it can reopen its stores to attract those shoppers.

Bankrupt casual-dining company CraftWorks Holdings Inc. is willing to sell itself to Fortress Investment Group LLC for $45 million less than the buyer offered earlier, while aiming to reopen as many as 200 restaurants once pandemic restrictions are loosened, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company behind the Logan’s Roadhouse and Gordon Biersch restaurant chains on Monday floated a private sale to Fortress valued at $93 million. The offer is in the form of a credit bid, meaning Fortress wants to buy the company in exchange for canceling some of its debt. The sale proposal, which also includes the assumption of liabilities by Fortress, is subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval and higher offers. Vineet Batra, the investment banker to Craftworks, said in court documents it is unlikely another buyer would top the Fortress offer in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the national economy. Fortress had offered $138 million for CraftWorks when the restaurant operator filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in early March. CraftWorks filed for bankruptcy operating 338 locations under brands including Old Chicago, Rock Bottom, Big River Grille, the ChopHouse and A1A Ale Works.

Justice Department antitrust authorities cleared the way for Dairy Farmers of America Inc. to buy the bulk of Dean Foods Co.’s milk plants out of bankruptcy, uniting the nation’s largest dairy cooperative by membership with the biggest milk processor, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Justice Department said on Friday that it would approve DFA’s $433 million purchase offer, subject to certain conditions, against the backdrop of “unprecedented challenges in the dairy industry” and Dean’s potential liquidation in the event the proposed deal fell through. “The department conducted a fast but comprehensive investigation, and our actions today preserve competition for fluid milk processing,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said. As a condition of the deal, the Justice Department required the divestiture of three Dean plants in Illinois, Wisconsin and Massachusetts to remedy potential competitive harm. Dean filed for bankruptcy in November and was followed into chapter 11 in January by another large fluid-milk processor, Borden Dairy Co., as falling milk consumption puts intensifying pressure on the highly regulated industry. Dean, the top U.S. milk processor by sales, had struggled for years with slumping demand as consumers gravitated to other beverages, including milk alternatives made from soy and oats.