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Wells Fargo, Lynn Tilton Trade Barbs over TransCare Bankruptcy

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TransCare Corp., a private ambulance company controlled by Lynn Tilton’s Patriarch Partners, says the blame for its recent collapse lies squarely on senior lender Wells Fargo Bank NA, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In bankruptcy court papers filed on Monday, a Patriarch affiliate said Wells Fargo “stymied” efforts to muster the funding needed to prevent the company’s abrupt descent into chapter 7. However, Wells Fargo said in a court filing yesterday that it strongly disagrees with Patriarch’s claims and sequence of events, saying it has been lenient with TransCare even though the company has “been in and out of default” for most of the last year.

Retired U.S. Judge Agrees to Mediate Caesars Bankruptcy

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Retired U.S. Judge Joseph Farnan has agreed to serve as the mediator in the chapter 11 bankruptcy of the operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp., Reuters reported yesterday. Farnan's agreement to mediate the drawn-out case came as the company and creditors wait for the independent examiner's report, due mid-March. Creditors have accused Caesars of looting the operating unit before the bankruptcy for the benefit of private equity owners Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital Management . The examiner's report will look into the accusations. The operating unit proposed a mediator last month as a way to help creditors reach a compromise and guide the case to resolution.

Magnum Hunter Creditors Cleared to Vote on Exit Plan

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Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. won bankruptcy-court approval to put its restructuring plan, which incorporates a recent settlement with a key creditor body, to a vote, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross on Friday signed off on an outline of the Texas oil and gas company's restructuring plan, paving the way for creditors to begin voting on the plan's terms. At the heart of the plan is a pledge by many of Magnum Hunter's lenders and bondholders to swap some $1 billion in debt for most, if not all, of the new common stock in the restructured company. Magnum Hunter sought chapter 11 protection in December after striking this deal with top creditors.

Trump's Former Atlantic City Jewel Exits Bankruptcy, Now Icahn's

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Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., the casino operator founded by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, emerged from bankruptcy court protection on Friday and is now a subsidiary of billionaire Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP, Bloomberg News reported. While Trump hasn’t owned the parent of the Taj Mahal casino for years, his record in Atlantic City, N.J., has become a topic on the campaign trail. Trump opened the Taj Mahal in 1990. The parent company continually struggled with debt, and Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy court protection in September 2014. The filing coincided with a protracted downturn in betting in Atlantic City that led four of the city’s 12 casinos to close. It was the Trump casino businesses’ fourth time in bankruptcy.

Horsehead Junior Creditors Attack Bankruptcy Loan

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Creditors of zinc producer Horsehead Holding Corp. have weighed in against a proposed bankruptcy financing package, saying that nearly 18 percent of the $90 million loan is going to benefit the company's top lenders in the form of fees, interest and legal costs, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The Pittsburgh-based company sought chapter 11 protection on Feb. 2, seeking to reshape its balance sheet for tough industry conditions. Horsehead, a recycler of steel byproducts, says that it needs the money to keep going in the face of lowered prices and falling demands for its products, zinc, nickel and zinc oxide. Senior bondholders that are driving talks about a restructuring are offering the $90 million loan, on terms junior creditors term "egregious." Horsehead's bankruptcy lenders stand to tap the loan proceeds for more than $16 million for lender and lawyer fees and interest, the committee's lawyers noted.

A Rocky Engagement Threatens to Spoil Energy Future's Comeback

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With less than a month to go before Texas regulators must decide whether to allow a group led by Hunt Consolidated Inc. to buy Energy Future’s Oncor Electric Delivery Co. utility, an unlikely hurdle has been thrown up, by Oncor, Bloomberg News reported today. The power distributor has raised red flags about key aspects of the deal, which is the cornerstone of the plan to allow Energy Future to emerge from bankruptcy. Oncor’s questions bolster the concerns of a long list of opponents to the deal, from consumer advocates to the Texas Public Utility Commission’s own staff. While Oncor hasn’t asked that the transaction be rejected, it said in filings with the commission that the terms of the purchase might not be good for Oncor’s customers, revenue and credit ratings. 

Bankruptcy Judge Halts N.Y. Litigation vs Caesars Entertainment

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A bondholder lawsuit against Caesars Entertainment Corp., which the casino company has warned could plunge it into bankruptcy alongside its operating unit, was stayed by Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar on Friday, Reuters reported. Judge Goldgar said that the stay on the litigation would be lifted either on May 9 or 60 days after an examiner publishes his report into corporate deals that the bondholders allege stripped the operating unit of its best assets. The operating unit filed for bankruptcy in Goldgar's court last year. The judge ordered an examiner, Richard Davis, to investigate those allegations and Davis has said that his report will be released by the middle of March. Caesars has said that it expects to prevail in the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, but it wanted to remove the threat it could be found to be liable for billions of dollars to holders of bonds issued by its operating unit. The bondholders sued in New York because they believe the parent company guaranteed the bonds, which were issued by the now-bankrupt Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc.