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Molycorp Inc. has failed to attract any offers for the entire company as a first-round bidding deadline approaches, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The potential buyers, mostly rare-earths producers and processors based outside the U.S., are instead looking to take on part or all of the bankrupt rare-earths miner’s overseas business. Those bids do not include its idled Mountain Pass mine in California, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Offers could still emerge in a later round. The sale, which was announced on Nov. 3 and is part of a reorganization plan, has been tumultuous, with Molycorp’s lower-ranking creditors accusing the company of running a “specious sale process.” The contending creditors, which are negotiating with the company in mediation sessions ordered by the judge, argued that the proposal gives veto power to Oaktree Capital Management LLC, Molycorp’s senior lender, and makes it impossible to persuade potential buyers to join an auction. The company, which is advised by Miller Buckfire & Co. and AlixPartners LLP, said last month that it would sell the entire company or certain assets, or reorganize the business if a sale doesn’t take place.

Millennium Health LLC’s chapter 11 plan cleared a major hurdle on Friday when a bankruptcy judge brushed aside objections to the plan, which funds a $256 million settlement of fraud accusations with the Justice Department, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein approved the bulk of a reorganization strategy designed as a fresh start for the drug-testing company. Millennium hasn’t admitted to civil charges that it fraudulently billed taxpayers. The judge withheld her signature while pondering the form of the order she is being asked to sign. Assuming she grants confirmation at a hearing on Tuesday, lenders will take over from the existing owners, including James Slattery, who founded Millennium, and TA Associates, a private-equity firm that owns a minority stake in the company. At a hearing on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Judge Silverstein cited a looming Dec. 30 deadline for Millennium to cover the settlement or face revocation of its right to bill Medicare and other government programs.

The Diocese of Duluth, Minn., is expected to enter mediation with clergy sexual abuse victims, following in the footsteps of other bankrupt dioceses that have sought to resolve growing legal and financial turmoil tied to the abuse crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Ford Elsaesser, a lawyer for the diocese, said on Friday that the diocese will “very likely” seek the appointment of a mediator. Mediation is likely the best opportunity to resolve the diocese’s bankruptcy case, which was filed Monday, through a settlement that compensates victims and also protects the church from future litigation. The Diocese of Helena, Mont., which filed for bankruptcy in January 2014, spent less than five hours in court, resolving much of its case in mediation. Other diocesan bankruptcies have stretched out over years, racking up huge legal bills. Judge Robert Kressel, who is also overseeing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s bankruptcy, said he had already begun to consider who might serve as a mediator for the Duluth diocese, likely another bankruptcy judge.

A U.S. court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by a holdout creditor over the plan that enabled the city of Stockton, Calif., to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported on Friday. Stockton's holdout creditor, two funds managed by Franklin Templeton, filed the appeal earlier this year after the city had received the green light to exit chapter 9. But an appellate panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Court dismissed the case as equitably moot, saying that the bankruptcy court had not clearly erred in its decision. Franklin had argued that "no bondholder has ever received so little in the history of municipal bankruptcy." Franklin California High Yield Municipal Fund and Franklin High Yield Tax-Free Income Fund loaned $35 million to Stockton in 2009. After the bankruptcy, Franklin ended up with over $6 million. The city contended that it was not "awash in loose cash" and could not boost Franklin's payments without "eroding the underpinnings of the plan."

Coal miner Walter Energy Inc. reached a settlement with creditors after a bankruptcy judge said that the case would “crash and burn” if an agreement wasn’t secured, Bloomberg News reported today. The accord with a committee of first-lien lenders and the unsecured creditors’ committee allows the company to move forward with the scheduled Jan. 5 auction of its assets. The opening bid is an offer by lenders to exchange $1.25 billion in debt and $5.4 million cash for assets. Under the global settlement, the stalking-horse bidder agreed to assume up to $122 million in liabilities as part of the sale, unsecured creditors will get a 1 percent equity in the buyer, according to court documents. The unsecured creditors said that it would agree to the sale motion.

Wireless venture LightSquared LP said it reached a settlement yesterday with Deere & Co. over spectrum use that will provide support for the company as it emerges from bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. The agreement could potentially lead to further settlements with other GPS providers over interference between LightSquared's spectrum and GPS signals. LightSquared officially exited chapter 11 protection on Monday after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to allow the transfer of its valuable wireless spectrum into a newly-formed company, ending one of the longest and most litigious chapter 11 cases in recent years. The company was planning to build a nationwide wireless network when the FCC proposed to suspend indefinitely its terrestrial spectrum authorizations, pushing it into bankruptcy in May of 2012 and bitter litigation with stakeholders vying for control of its valuable spectrum. Under the new deal with Deere, LightSquared will reduce out-of-band emissions and forego terrestrial use on parts of its spectrum closest to GPS.

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a decision rejecting claims of fraud by Harbinger Capital Partners, the equity owner of bankrupt wireless venture LightSquared, against Deere & Co. and other GPS firms, Reuters reported yesterday. Hedge fund Harbinger had accused Deere, Garmin International, Trimble Navigation Ltd., and a GPS industry group of misleading LightSquared about interference concerns and hastening the wireless spectrum's plunge into bankruptcy. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a ruling by the Manhattan federal court in February, saying that Harbinger's arguments were "without merit." LightSquared has separately brought claims against the parties, which are currently being litigated in the Southern District of New York. While the Second Circuit’s decision is a blow for Harbinger, it comes just three days after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved LightSquared's request to transfer its valuable wireless spectrum into a newly-formed company.

Proposed changes to an obscure Depression-era law are causing a ruckus among the Wall Street investment funds that are battling over the debt restructuring at Caesars Entertainment and other companies, the New York Times DealBook blog reported yesterday. Tucked away in the omnibus spending bill in Washington, D.C., is an amendment to that law, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, that critics say would hand a victory to Apollo Global Management, which owns the casino company, at the expense of some bondholders. Hedge funds and other bondholders have been at odds in the Caesars restructuring, which concerns about $10 billion in bond indentures. Six other restructurings could also be affected if the amendment is approved, including that of for-profit college operator Education Management Corporation, which is backed by the private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company.

The former chairman of U.S. law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is nearing a deal with New York prosecutors to avert a retrial on fraud charges stemming from the firm's collapse, and prosecutors have extended plea offers to three other defendants, Reuters reported yesterday. A potential deferred prosecution agreement for Dewey leader Steven Davis was confirmed by his lawyer after a court hearing in New York state court yesterday. If approved, the deal would mark a step toward resolving a criminal case stemming from the largest law firm failure in U.S. history. Assistant District Attorney Peirce Moser also offered plea deals at the hearing to former Dewey executive director Stephen DiCarmine and chief financial officer Joel Sanders, as well as client relations manager Zachary Warren. Only the offer to Sanders included prison time. Moser also moved to dismiss several counts of falsifying business records against the defendants, streamlining any retrial.

American Apparel Inc. founder Dov Charney is working with a small investment bank on a potential bid to buy the clothing retailer out of bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Charney, who has been trying to regain control of American Apparel since being ousted last year, has engaged Cardinal Advisors LLC to evaluate options, according to a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg on Friday. Charney was fired last December from his dual roles of CEO and chairman following allegations of misconduct. He has since pushed for his return without success. The retailer was struggling with losses and debt under his leadership, and its results only worsened after his dismissal. That ultimately led the chain to file for bankruptcy protection in October.