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Caesars Entertainment Corp. said yesterday that lenders to its bankrupt operating unit have moved to potentially terminate a pact to support the unit's $18 billion restructuring, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The lenders, owed $5.4 billion, cited the currently "unacceptable" terms of the new debt they are slated to receive under the restructuring plan as the reason for looking to consider breaking off their support for the plan, Caesars said yesterday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If Caesars and its Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., or CEOC, unit don't address the problem by Dec. 24, then the lenders could officially terminate their support pact, the SEC filing said.

The legal process for winding down a failing bank under federal control is in jeopardy, as some Senate Republicans are looking to use a workaround to chip away at pieces of the Dodd-Frank Act without needing a 60-vote majority, BloombergBNA reported yesterday. The lawmakers are targeting the “orderly liquidation fund,” which is designed to bankroll the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as it liquidates a failing institution. Slashing that fund would crimp the FDIC’s ability to carry out its Dodd-Frank powers. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is spearheading the effort, and Republican staff members are combing through the law to find other sections that could be eligible for changes through reconciliation. Republicans will have a 52-seat majority in 2017, but incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has vowed to protect Dodd-Frank from GOP repeal efforts. Senate rules, however, require only a simple majority under the reconciliation process, which permits faster congressional action on tax and spending matters. 

SunEdison filed a motion for an order approving the sale of certain equity interests in its Atlantic Power Warehouse, free and clear of all liens, claims and liabilities to DIF Infra 4 US and DIF IV Co-Invest (as buyer) and approving certain releases in connection with the sale, BankruptcyData.com reported today. The bankruptcy court has scheduled a January 12, 2017 hearing on the sale motion. In addition to filing the sale motion, SunEdison subsidiary TerraForm Private Holdings initiated its own chapter 11 filing in the Southern District of New York, case number 16-13523, and seeking joint administration with the SunEdison proceeding. 

U.S. oilfield services firm Forbes Energy Services Ltd is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as this month, as it struggles with approximately $300 million in debt, Reuters reported on Friday. The company's plans to seek protection from its creditors underscore the stress facing the U.S. oilfield services sector amid low energy prices, as oil and gas exploration and production companies have scaled back drilling. The company, headquartered in Alice, Texas, said in its latest quarterly financial statement in November that it may have to file for bankruptcy. It has also been in talks with its creditors about a potential debt restructuring. More than 200 energy-related firms have filed for bankruptcy since oil prices crashed about two years ago. Forbes Energy operates around 173 well servicing rigs in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. It also transports and disposes of fluids used in drilling. Forbes Energy also competes with Stallion Oilfield Services Ltd, Superior Energy Services Inc. and Heckman Corp. Read more.

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Gracious Home, the luxury home-goods chain, is paying its second visit in six years to bankruptcy court, the New York Post reported today. The 53-year-old retailer, which describes itself as possessing “timeless New York elegance,” said in the chapter 11 filing “there is a viable business remaining, albeit on a smaller scale.” The filing in Manhattan bankruptcy court indicates that six of its top creditors are landlords. Sales in 2016 are expected to reach $43 million, down 20 percent from 2015, according to the filing.

Optima Specialty Steel filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, as nearly $172 million in senior secured note debt came due, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The bankruptcy filing is designed to keep the specialty steelmaking operations in business, while Optima works out a reorganization plan that gets its debt in line with revenue, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. In the past decade, the Miami company collected U.S. steelmaking operations, some of them with decades of history, in leveraged buyouts. Optima has been grappling with low prices and weak demand from the energy, agriculture and mining sectors, according to Moody’s Investors Service, which downgraded the notes in October 2015. In addition to the Dec. 15 maturity on senior secured notes, Optima also faced a Dec. 30 deadline on $87.5 million of senior unsecured note debt. Optima also estimates it owes more than $37 million in other unsecured debt, such as trade bills.

When a group of South Florida lawyers found out a nearly 50-year-old Miami crisis intervention nonprofit was at risk of closing its doors, they donated hundreds of hours of work to keep Switchboard of Miami Inc. running, the Daily Business Review reported yesterday. Switchboard focuses on suicide prevention and other mental health support, which includes counseling phone lines specifically for seniors, veterans and LGBTQ callers.Three law firms and an assignee worked quickly to obtain court approval to sell the financially strapped organization's assets to Jewish Community Services of South Florida Inc. The deal closed Monday. Jewish Community Services, also a nonprofit, paid $15,000 for Switchboard's assets. JCS also forgave $70,000 in loans it made to keep Switchboard running before the deal closed and agreed to pay about $56,000 to BankUnited for debt Switchboard owed. Switchboard was represented pro bono by Markowitz Ringel's Jerry Markowitz and Grace Robson, and Akerman attorneys Brett Marks, Eyal Berger and Daniel Jacobson represented JCS. Mindy Mora and Jeffrey Snyder of Bilzin Sumberg represented the assignee of Switchboard's assets.