%1

Buyout firm Sycamore Partners has won the auction for the e-commerce business and intellectual property of bankrupt U.S. women's apparel retailer The Limited with a bid of $26.8 million, Reuters reported yesterday. Sycamore Partners outbid clothing firm Sunrise Brands LLC in the auction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the outcome has not yet been announced. The sale to Sycamore Partners must still be approved by a U.S. bankruptcy court judge. The Limited was forced to close its roughly 250 brick-and-mortar stores earlier this year. It filed for bankruptcy last month, with Sycamore Partners as a stalking-horse bidder. Sunrise Brands, whose holdings include branded apparel for actresses Melissa McCarthy and Eva Longoria, submitted an offer for The Limited last week.

Chaparral Energy Inc. aims to have its bankruptcy exit plan confirmed next month, which may require suing a co-owner of a carbon dioxide pipeline to advance the sale of the asset, the bankrupt oil and gas producer said in court papers on Friday, Reuters reported. Chaparral has a hearing on March 9 to confirm its plan to emerge from chapter 11 bankruptcy, funded in part by asset sales. The company filed for bankruptcy in May after talks with stakeholders failed to produce a restructuring support agreement to tackle its financial troubles. Chaparral said that it no longer needed the pipeline in Oklahoma running from a Koch Fertilizer LLC fertilizer plant. It transports carbon dioxide used in "flooding" fields to help extract oil and gas from depleted wells. Chaparral and Merit Energy Co. together own more than 90 percent of the pipeline. Under an agreement, Merit bought CO2 from the Koch plant and set aside a portion for Chaparral's use. Their deal expired in December and talks to renew it failed, Chaparral said, adding that talks to acquire CO2 directly from Koch had also failed. Read more.

The featured keynote at ABI's 2017 Annual Spring Meeting will be Spencer Abraham, former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Secretary of Energy. Additionally, a panel at the Annual Spring Meeting will be discussing legal and business developments in E&P cases. Click here to register! 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Theranos Inc. had $200 million of cash on hand at the end of 2016, less than a quarter of the funding it raised from investors and partners, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The number was disclosed in a conference call with investors last month. Investors also were told the firm didn’t generate any material revenue in 2015 and 2016 and hasn’t set aside funds for any potential liability that could arise from its pending legal challenges. The firm has yet to receive regulatory approval for a new business line it said it is pursuing. The financial predicament facing Theranos shows how vulnerable it is to any adverse judgments from multiple lawsuits, as well as civil and criminal investigations and pending federal regulatory actions against it. A large, unplanned expense could cripple the firm, which once sought to upend the medical lab business by offering cheap tests done on small samples of blood. Theranos investor Partner Fund Management and the blood-diagnostics company’s former retail partner Walgreen Co., a unit of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., have both sued the company. They seek to recover a total of around $240 million from Theranos. Partner Fund alleges that Theranos made misleading statements in connection with its investment and Walgreens alleges it breached a contract.

Perfumania Holdings Inc., a U.S. retailer with exclusive distribution rights to several Trump-branded colognes, has hired advisers to explore strategic alternatives, including a debt restructuring, Reuters reported on Friday. The move comes as Perfumania, a major U.S. fragrance retailer, looks to address its debt pile amid declining traffic at malls. The Bellport, N.Y.-based company is working with legal and financial advisers to explore options, including addressing its capital structure, according to the sources. Perfumania recorded debt of approximately $164 million at Oct. 29 and $2.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company also plans to negotiate with landlords to exit some of its 313 standalone Perfumania shops in the U.S.

Energy Future Holdings Corp., which owns the largest power network in Texas, received court approval on Friday to confirm its plan to exit bankruptcy and be acquired by NextEra Energy Inc. in a deal valued at around $18 billion, Reuters reported on Friday. Approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas is required for the purchase of Energy Future's power distribution business, known as Oncor. A decision is expected in the coming months. The commission last year scuttled a proposed acquisition of Oncor by Hunt Consolidated Inc. of Texas. Energy Future said on Feb. 14 that it had resolved the last main disputes to its plan of reorganization, when its noteholders reached an agreement to modify what they were owed. 

Creditors of Abengoa Bioenergy US Holding, a unit of Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa SA, have reached an agreement over the distribution of asset sale proceeds, removing a key hurdle for the company to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. Abengoa Bioenergy was one of dozens of U.S. Abengoa subsidiaries that filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last year while the Seville-based parent worked out a high-stakes plan to cut $10 billion of debt and avoid its own bankruptcy in Spain. The bioenergy company sold ethanol plants last year and raised roughly $140 million in cash, which was claimed by lenders of the Abengoa parent in Spain as well as the unit's unsecured creditors and suppliers in the United States. Under a deal reached this week, Abengoa's big bank lenders such as Santander will receive their pro rata share of $32.5 million of cash from the asset sale proceeds, while the rest will be distributed among the other creditors.

HHGregg Inc. is turning to investment banks including Miller Buckfire & Co. for help as the electronics and furniture retailer battles weak sales, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The retailer also retained Miller Buckfire’s parent Stifel Financial Corp. to explore a range of strategic transactions. Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP is hired as legal adviser, according to the report. Miller Buckfire will advise the company on plans including how to deal with its debt and a possible turnaround. The retailer posted disappointing numbers for the crucial holiday season in the quarter ended Dec. 31, with sales plunging 24 percent to about $453 million from the year earlier.