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A U.S. bankruptcy judge yesterday approved a process for the sale of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery, the largest and oldest on East Coast, under which city officials and a trade union will consult on the matter, Reuters reported. The plan resolves earlier objections by giving the United Steelworkers union and Philadelphia city officials access to the identities of bidders and, in some cases, the ability to speak with potential buyers, according to the order signed by Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. An auction date for the PES refinery was set for Jan. 17 in New York. PES collapsed into bankruptcy on July 21 and put its 335,000 barrel-per-day refinery up for sale after a fire tore through an alkylation unit at the Girard Point section of the plant a month earlier. Most of the 1,100 PES workers, including more than 600 members of the United Steelworkers local union, were laid off without severance or benefits.

After initially planning to hand itself over to creditors, bankrupt oil-and-gas producer Sheridan Holding Company II LLC now wants to sell most of its assets to private investors for $328 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Sheridan sought protection from creditors in September with about $1.1 billion in debt. At the time, the Houston-based company said it would hand ownership to lenders but would continue to negotiate with potential outside buyers interested in the business. The company is proposing a purchase deal with Crossing Rocks Energy Operating LLC, an affiliate of a company formed last year in partnership with oil-and-gas investment firms Old Ironsides Energy LLC and Pearl Energy Investments to buy and develop energy assets. Sheridan’s secured lenders haven’t yet decided to pursue an asset sale, although Sheridan is seeking their approval. A court filing says that Sheridan must get the support of certain secured lenders to do the deal. The company is scheduled to appear in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston next week to ask a judge to approve its reorganization plan.

Johnson Publishing Co., the bankrupt former publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, is selling its iconic Fashion Fair beauty line for women of color to two of its former executives and a hedge-fund founder for $1.85 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The publisher’s former chief executive, Desirée Rogers, and its former chief operating officer and president of digital, Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, will be the majority owners and operators of Fashion Fair, a representative said. The buyers also include Magnetar Capital LLC founder and Chief Executive Alec Litowitz, a minority investor who is backing the deal in his personal capacity. Evanston, Ill.-based Magnetar Capital, one of the country’s largest hedge funds, isn’t involved in the deal, a spokeswoman for the hedge fund said. A bankruptcy judge yesterday approved the sale of Fashion Fair to Winnetka, Ill.-based FFair Acquisition LLC, a holding company formed for the acquisition. Fashion Fair was once the largest black-owned cosmetics company in the world. The line was created by the late Eunice W. Johnson, the creator of the Ebony Fashion Fair Show that inspired the brand created for darker skin tones.

Barneys New York Inc. began liquidation sales Friday at all of its stores, including the company’s flagship Manhattan location, which will remain open but without the Barneys name, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company’s new owner, Authentic Brands Group LLC, will keep the Madison Avenue flagship open for another year, but within a few months it will no longer be a Barneys. Instead, the space will be converted into pop-up shops for high-end fashion houses and cultural attractions, Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter said in an interview. Authentic Brands completed its purchase of the luxury department-store chain on Friday after other potential last-minute bids fizzled, clearing the way for the licensing company to begin going-out-of-business sales at the seven remaining Barneys stores. Under a partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, Authentic Brands is creating a new Barneys inside a newly renovated Saks department store in Manhattan. Saks will also take over and manage Barneys’s Boston location after the liquidation sale ends, Salter said.

A bankruptcy judge yesterday approved Barneys New York Inc.’s sale to Authentic Brands Group LLC, an owner and manager of fashion brands, which will likely close almost all of the luxury retailer’s remaining stores and license the Barneys name, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The judge’s decision, however, leaves open the slim possibility that a rival purchaser could come forward before the sale closes tomorrow with a higher or better offer that would keep more stores open and the business intact. “This is a sad day,” said Judge Cecelia G. Morris at a hearing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The ruling means the majority of Barneys’ more than 2,000 employees will likely soon be out of work. Barneys’ new buyer plans to start store-closing sales tomorrow right after the deal closes. Barneys filed for bankruptcy protection in August, stung by a shift to online shopping and rising rent on its flagship Madison Avenue store. The company currently has seven locations after closing 15 stores when it filed for court protection.

Luxury retailer Barneys New York Inc. is close to being sold to licensing firm Authentic Brands Group LLC after a competing bid from a trade show executive failed to qualify for a bankruptcy auction, Reuters reported. Authentic Brands had agreed with Barneys to be its so-called stalking-horse buyer, setting the floor for other offers. Now that a bid from Israeli businessman Samuel Ben-Avraham has failed, Barneys plans to cancel an auction scheduled for Monday. Authentic Brands’ $271 million offer for Barneys is expected to close on Oct. 31, the brand-development company said. Its plan for Barneys includes shops within existing Saks Fifth Avenue locations. Authentic Brands, which owns Nine West and Juicy Couture, will also keep certain Barneys brick-and-mortar locations open depending on negotiations with landlords.

Private-equity firm Bristol Capital Advisors LLC has won an auction to purchase boutique candy retailer Sugarfina Inc. out of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Los Angeles-based Bristol’s investment vehicle, Sugarfina Acquisition Corp., was the successful bidder at the auction conducted by Sugarfina on Tuesday, according to a bankruptcy court filing. The winning bid was for about $15.1 million, Bristol’s co-founder Diana Derycz-Kessler said yesterday. The sale requires approval by Judge Mary Walrath. A hearing is slated for today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Bristol was the stalking-horse bidder for Sugarfina’s assets, with a $14 million cash offer made earlier this month. Bristol’s bid replaced an earlier offer for the candy retailer’s assets from private-equity firm TerraMar Capital LLC’s holding company Candy Cube Holdings LLC, which was named as the backup bidder in the auction.