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E-cigarette maker NJOY received bankruptcy-court approval to sell itself to New York investment firm Homewood Capital in a deal valued at more than $30 million, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi authorized the sale this week, according to court papers. Through a credit bid, Homewood offered to forgive $29.5 million in debt in exchange for the assets. The investment firm also offered to take responsibility for NJOY’s senior loan debt and will pay at least $560,000 in cash as part of the transaction, court papers say. Three years ago, Homewood Capital contributed to a $75 million round of funding in the e-cigarette producer, according to an NJOY statement. Mr. Teitelbaum joined NJOY’s board of directors at the time, the company said. NJOY had a one-member board at the time of its chapter 11 filing, court papers say.

Bauer Hockey and Easton Baseball will need two bankruptcy judges, one in Canada and one in the U.S., to referee a fight among shareholders over how the sporting goods makers should be sold at a court-ordered auction, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The companies, makers of skates, bats and other equipment used by pros and amateurs, are owned by Performance Sports Group Ltd., whose shareholders can’t agree on how to organize a sale. Lawyers will appear before judges in Toronto and Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 30 in a video-linked court hearing to sort out auction procedures. Performance and the Bauer and Easton units filed for creditor protection in the U.S. and Canada last month because the companies have assets in both countries. In a phone conference on Wednesday, the judges said that they were concerned Exeter, N.H.-based Performance Sports wasn’t giving them enough time to rule. Under deadlines imposed by the company’s lenders and the lead bidder for its assets, auction rules must be approved by Nov. 30. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey told his Canadian counterpart, Ontario Superior Court Judge Frank Newbould, that he expects them to “have an opportunity to consult with each other privately so hopefully we can come to consistent rulings.”

Parting company with decisions from New York, the Third Circuit in Philadelphia reversed the lower courts in Delaware and ruled that so-called make-whole premiums must be paid to bondholders, at least when prepayment is voluntary in chapter 11 and the language of the indenture is not to the contrary, according to an analysis today in Rochelle’s Daily Wire. In a Nov. 17 decision in the wake of the reorganization of electric energy giant Energy Future Holdings Corp., the Third Circuit distinguished a Second Circuit decision and eviscerated a New York bankruptcy court opinion that favored large corporate debtors by holding that make-whole premiums are not owing if the debt was automatically accelerated by a bankruptcy filing. Immediately after the chapter 11 filing in Delaware, Energy Future refinanced the debt with court approval, leaving open the question of whether make-whole premiums were owing. Later, the bankruptcy court ruled that the premiums were not owing. The decisions by the bankruptcy court were upheld this year by a district judge in Delaware. Read more. 

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PMC Services LLC filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy with $3,063 in assets and a little over $1.53 million in debt, the Houston Business Journal reported yesterday. The company provided oil field housing for workers on site, according to its website. The filing shows the company’s revenue has been in sharp decline through the downturn, starting at $923,784 in 2014, then falling to $515,822 in 2015 before finally plunging to $63,298 in 2016. Read more. 

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Regional carrier Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, said yesterday that it filed a plan to emerge from bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2017, Reuters reported. A plan of reorganization was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York with the full support of its creditors committee, the company said in a statement. The plan outlines that the company will emerge as a single air carrier under the name Republic Airline Inc., it said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said he’s willing to tweak his plan to overhaul the Dodd-Frank Act before reintroducing it to Congress early next year, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The committee is “interested in working on a 2.0 version,” Hensarling said. “Advice and counsel is welcome.” The Texas Republican’s comments come amid speculation that his Choice Act could serve as a blueprint for how Donald Trump overhauls financial reforms enacted after the 2008 economic crisis. During the event, Hensarling said that the committee has been in “fairly constant dialogue” with Trump’s transition team about his legislation, but it hasn’t been explicitly endorsed by the president-elect. Last week Trump’s transition team reiterated the campaign promise to scrap Dodd-Frank. A financial policy team is working on crafting measures that would dismantle the 2010 law and replace it with new policies that encourage economic growth and job creation, according to a statement on the transition team’s website. Read more. 

In related news, key Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee said this week they are willing to work with the incoming Trump administration and the Republican Congress on potential changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, but only to a small extent, MorningConsult.com reported today. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the panel’s ranking member, and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said they would be OK with discussing scaled-back regulations on community banks, for example. “If he’s talking about giving some reg relief to those community banks, I’ll work with him,” Tester said. “If he’s talking about giving reg relief to Wall Street, then we’ve got a problem because, frankly, that’s where the risk of a financial meltdown comes from.” Read more. 

The fate of American Apparel’s 110-store retail chain should be known by the holiday season, when a bankruptcy auction will test the market’s appetite for distressed sellers of young-adult fashions, the Wall Street Journal reported today. American Apparel has an offer in hand from Gildan Activewear Inc. for its brand, some wholesale inventory and possibly some manufacturing and distribution operations. A spokeswoman for the company said yesterday there are other potential offers, including some that involve American Apparel’s retail operations. “There is an opportunity maybe for a going concern sale,” said Gerard Uzzi, a lawyer for lenders owed about $190 million. That is an improvement over a grim scenario that was taking shape last week, he said. Bleeding cash after a failed bankruptcy turnaround, American Apparel returned to chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday and yesterday won interim approval on a $30 million loan that will keep the store doors open and operating, at least for a time. Gildan is requiring that the American Apparel retail chain remains in operation while it moves toward a December auction, with a sale in January. Until Gildan closes a deal, the stores are safe, according to Scott Greenberg, a lawyer for American Apparel. Read mroe. (Subscription required.) 

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