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President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter yesterday warning of retribution for other companies contemplating moving production abroad, the New York Times reported today. His tactics have drawn criticism from both the left and the right, with a range of experts saying that his approach may be ineffective at best, and crony-capitalist and caudillo-like at worst. “Blackmail is implicit in this approach, and it’s dangerous,” said Tyler Cowen, a conservative free market-oriented economist who teaches at George Mason University. “It’s a lot of political theater, but that’s not even my biggest criticism. Trump is negotiating with individual businesses outside of the rule of law and bureaucratic procedure.” On Friday, Trump took aim at Rexnord, another manufacturer with a plant in Indianapolis, which disclosed plans in October to move to Mexico. “No more!” he said on Twitter, helping to push Rexnord’s stock down 8 percent for the week. According to Trump, the penalty would be a 35 percent tariff imposed on goods that companies ship back into the United States after they move production abroad. It is doubtful that Trump would have the legal authority to punish individual companies without congressional action. But he is also promising a broader overhaul of corporate taxes and the elimination of a host of regulations that he sees as stifling American companies, in addition to individual incentive packages like the $7 million one that Carrier received.

U.S. coal producer Peabody Energy Corp. said it would seek court approval to repay a $500 million term loan ahead of schedule because it has enough cash to operate in bankruptcy thanks to a rise in coal prices, Reuters reported on Friday. Peabody obtained an $800 million debtor-in-possession or DIP financing from both secured and unsecured creditors when it joined other large U.S. coal producers in bankruptcy in April, hit by a drop in coal prices. The financing included a $500 million term loan, which the company is planning to repay, along with a $200 million bonding accommodation facility for cleanup costs and a letter of credit worth $100 million. Since April there has been a significant increase in the price of both the seaborne thermal and metallurgical coal sold by Peabody, one of the world's leading coal producers. If Peabody repays the term loan before mid-January, its bankruptcy estate will save more than $12 million in interest payments per quarter, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis. The court must approve the request.

Fifteen years ago today, energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy protection, prompting a chain of seminal legislative, regulatory and public policy developments that influence corporate governance practices to this day, according to a New York Times commentary today. A new generation of leaders has entered boardrooms since then, and it is fair to question what they know, or remember, about the fiduciary failures that not only doomed Enron but also permanently recast the board’s role, according to the commentary. Enron’s bankruptcy remains vitally relevant to today’s corporate board members — not because it was the largest American bankruptcy at the time, but because it gave birth to the fiduciary guidelines and best practices that form the contours of modern corporate governance. The board policies, procedures and codes of ethics to which today’s corporate directors are subject are the direct descendants of the lessons learned from the staggering oversight failures of the Enron board.

Judges in Canada and the U.S. yesterday approved materials explaining Nortel Networks Corp.’s creditor-repayment plan, inaugurating the beginning of the end of one of the priciest bankruptcies on record, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Yesterday’s court hearings launched the formal process of polling creditors on the bankruptcy plans that will end Nortel’s corporate life after eight years in bankruptcy, and divide the $7.3 billion in proceeds from its global going-out-of-business sale. Creditors have to weigh in formally, and the Nortel distribution schemes need to pass another court test, but checks may finally go out next year to creditors, including employees put out of work in 2009 when the telecommunications icon was swept under in the global recession.

The parent company of Logan’s Roadhouse restaurants yesterday announced that it has emerged from bankruptcy and launched a turnaround effort that includes a revamped menu and a new marketing campaign, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported today. “We’re very proud of what the company has accomplished in a little over 90 days with the balance sheet restructuring and the operational turnaround,” Nishant Machado, a senior managing director at Mackinac Partners who is leading the turnaround effort at Logan’s. Logan’s Roadhouse Inc. filed for reorganization bankruptcy in August. As part of the bankruptcy reorganization, Logan’s Roadhouse already has restructured its balance to reduce its debt from approximately $400 million to just over $100 million, while significantly lowering its interest expenses; shut down 34 “underperforming” restaurants, leaving the chain with a portfolio of what it called “strong-performing restaurants;” and renegotiated leases and contracts resulting in over $4 million in annual savings.