Boston Grand Prix, the local organizing entity of the since-canceled Seaport IndyCar race, is filing for bankruptcy, Boston.com reported today. The news comes amid the legal and financial mess resulting from the millions of dollars the group owes race ticket buyers and stakeholders. Boston Grand Prix said in its bankruptcy filing that it has less than $50,000 in assets, while listing liabilities of more than $1 million and between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently threatened and moved toward legal action against Boston Grand Prix in an effort to recoup ticket holders’ money.
Fairway emerged from bankruptcy a little more than two months after the struggling grocer filed for chapter 11 protection, Crain’s New York Business reported today. The company succeeded in persuading lenders to cut Fairway’s borrowings in half in exchange for all the equity. The reorganized company also has a new board of directors that includes a former senior Whole Foods executive and the president of Rite Aid. Fairway is effectively swapping one private-equity owner for another: A consortium that includes Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners is replacing Sterling Investment Partners. In 2007, Connecticut-based Sterling acquired Fairway for $150 million and borrowed heavily in an effort to transform the Manhattan-based grocery into a major regional supermarket chain. But that strategy hit the rocks after Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s moved into New York. Fairway never posted a profitable quarter after going public in 2013, and interest payments on its $280 million in debt devoured resources. Last year, the company tried to sell itself to more than 60 potential buyers, but there were no takers.
Shareholders of Horsehead Holding, who stand to recover nothing under a creditor-proposed reorganization plan, say that the bankrupt zinc producer’s assets are worth about $500 million more than the creditors say they are, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. If their estimate is accurate, they would be able to recoup part of their investment — something that does not happen in most bankruptcies. A court-appointed committee representing shareholders alleges that the creditor group leading the reorganization of Robinson-based Horsehead is deliberately underestimating the value of the company in order to take control at a bargain price. Horsehead declared bankruptcy Feb. 2, plagued by depressed metals prices as well as massive equipment problems and cost overruns at its zinc refinery in Mooresboro, N.C. The company listed liabilities of $544.7 million and assets of $1 billion in papers filed in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Del. Since then, the creditor group leading the reorganization said the company’s value has deteriorated to between $255 million to $305 million. Under their plan, they would exchange their debt for controlling interest in the stock of the reorganized company. Existing Horsehead shareholders would get nothing. Read more.
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Arch Coal Inc. has picked up the support of its unsecured creditors for a chapter 11 turnaround plan, ending the threat of litigation over the coal operator’s failed efforts to stay out of bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Talks aimed at reaching a deal have been under way for sometime. New terms sketched out on Friday outline settlements that could ease the company’s path out of chapter 11. Unsecured bondholders are being offered cash and stock under the amended plan, which is slated for preliminary review on Wednesday at a bankruptcy court in St. Louis. Court papers filed Friday show the new plan is the result of a compromise that will see senior lenders and senior management pitching in to the pool of assets to be distributed to unsecured creditors. Last year, Arch tried to cut its debt load outside of bankruptcy by way of an exchange offer with junior bondholders. Senior lenders blocked the deal, a move that pushed Arch into bankruptcy in January. The filing came as other coal producers also sought court protection to address too much debt and harsh industry conditions. Litigation stemming from the failed debt exchange, as well as the threat of other lawsuits, would be put to rest under Arch’s new chapter 11 plan, according to court papers. Funds managed by Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners, which holds unsecured bond debt, will receive $5 million to settle a lawsuit it filed in May.
Total commercial filings during the first six months of the year (Jan. 1-June 30) increased 29 percent to 19,470 over the 15,071 total commercial filings during the same period in 2015, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. Commercial chapter 11 filings also climbed during the first half of 2016 as the 3,220 filings represented a 25 percent increase over the 2,575 commercial chapter 11 filings during the first six months of 2015. Total bankruptcy filings, however, fell to 398,495 during the first six months of 2016, representing a 6 percent decrease from the 422,914 total filings during the same period a year ago. The 379,025 total noncommercial filings for the first half of 2016 represented a 7 percent drop from the noncommercial filing total of 407,843 for the first half of 2015. “As economic challenges continue to weigh on the balance sheets of struggling companies, especially those in energy and retail, more businesses are seeking the financial fresh start of bankruptcy,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Commercial bankruptcy filings for 2016 will likely total close to 40,000.” Read ABI’s press release.
Retail store closings are at their highest level since 2010 — and the hemorrhaging has only just begun, the New York Post reported on Saturday. Japanese fast-fashion store Uniqlo has quietly shuttered five of its U.S. locations since January. Uniqlo’s closures follow a slew of announcements so far this year by fashion stalwarts, from Ralph Lauren to Macy’s, that they’re shuttering dozens of stores. “So many retailers are struggling,” said Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research, Americas, at Cushman & Wakefield. “You are going to hear, by end of summer, a whole lot more closure announcements.” As traditional clothing stores falter, Amazon is rising. The online behemoth has expanded its fashion assortment, trained shoppers to expect next- or same-day delivery, and is now poised to become America’s largest apparel retailer.
Tickets to watch U.S. professional football team the Denver Broncos, the winners of the 2016 Super Bowl, may be a hot commodity, but an auction for their stadium's naming rights ended this week without any bids being received, Reuters reported on Friday. The stadium in Denver is called Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium, named after the eponymous sporting goods retailer in 2011. However, Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy in March and put the naming rights up for sale as part of a court-supervised auction. No bidders for the rights came forward at an auction of the retailer's assets held this week, Matt Sugar, the director of stadium affairs at the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, which is the owner of the stadium, said on Friday. Discussions are underway about launching a new auction for the naming rights.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has asked a judge to extend its bankruptcy through 2017 to give it more time to work out a plan to distribute nearly $1 billion in proceeds from its liquidation to creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In court papers filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., lawyers for the grocery chain, known as A&P, asked Judge Robert Drain to extend its exclusivity period through Jan. 19, 2017. A&P filed for chapter 11 protection for a second time last summer with plans to liquidate. Since then, the company said on Thursday, a string of auctions and sales of its stores and other assets have garnered about $910 million and saved more than 18,000 jobs.
