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Faced with a skeptical judge and a string of objections from creditors, Relativity Media LLC said in court Friday that it would delay its breakneck sale timeline by about two weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles is expected to hold another hearing Aug. 25 to give final approval to the new timeline, which would cement in place a plan to hand Relativity’s assets to a new owner by the end of October. During the brief hearing on Friday, Judge Wiles also signed off on additional $2.5 million in bankruptcy financing intended to fund the company’s ongoing operations until the next hearing later this month. Relativity, which faltered under a heavy debt load and a string of box-office flops, sought bankruptcy protection July 30 after striking a deal with a group of lenders on $45 million in bankruptcy financing and an offer to forgive $250 million in debt in exchange for the company’s assets, subject to higher bids at an auction. The investor group includes Anchorage Capital, Luxor Capital Group and Falcon Investment Advisors, court papers show.

A judge on Friday approved a restructuring plan for Altegrity Inc., the company that gained notoriety when one of its units vetted former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein approved the plan after receiving assurance that all parties have been properly notified about a settlement between Altegrity and the U.S. government, in which both sides agreed to drop certain claims against one another in the bankruptcy case. Government probes into Altegrity not related to the bankruptcy can still continue, including any potential False Claims Act claims against former Altegrity officials. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP's Natasha Labovitz, a lawyer for Altegrity, said the many complications in the case forced the company to compromise on a restructuring plan that all parties supported. The company satisfied several plan objections in the days before the hearing, including the one with the government.

Lenders to Arch Coal Inc. are close to picking a replacement for Bank of America Corp., which resigned last month as their agent bank amid an escalating creditor feud, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Wilmington Trust NA is the top choice to fill the role as an advocate for holders of a $1.9 billion term loan after Bank of America quit when a group of lenders asked it not to sign off on a debt swap. The firm hasn’t been hired yet, according to those familiar with the negotiations. If Wilmington Trust gets the loan-agent job, it will walk into a squabble that’s pitting senior lenders against Arch Coal and junior bondholders who would benefit from the debt exchange announced six weeks ago. Arch Coal is attempting to cut debt costs in a bid to weather a commodities slump that’s already pulled three other large U.S. coal miners into bankruptcy this year.

Samson Resources Corp. said that it reached a restructuring deal with its senior lenders and plans to file for bankruptcy within 30 days, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based gas producer, majority owned by private equity firm KKR & Co., will skip about $110 million of an interest payment due Aug. 17 and enter a 30-day grace period to try to build a broader support for the plan, Samson said on Friday. Lenders of Samson’s second-lien term loan led by Silver Point Capital LP, Cerberus Capital Management LP and Anschutz Investment Co. will take control of the company. The group, which represents about 45.5 percent of the holders of its $1 billion term loan, will provide as much as $485 million to support operations and pay down first-lien debt, the company said. The plan also includes a rights offering that will be backstopped by the same group.

Mississippi regulators threw a lifeline to Southern Co.’s financially troubled clean-coal power project by temporarily raising customer bills 18 percent for a facility whose backers include the U.S. government, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Southern’s request to raise rates by $159 million a year was approved on a 2-1 vote by the Mississippi Public Service Commission at a meeting yesterday. The facility in Kemper County would be the first large-scale plant in the U.S. to turn coal into a gas to generate power while capturing carbon dioxide to pump underground. The coal industry was banking on the plant to show the way forward in developing cleaner-burning technologies. The plant has been plagued by delays and is now expected to cost $6.2 billion, almost three times original estimates. Southern’s Mississippi Power utility “stands on the brink of bankruptcy” without the rate relief, said Shawn Shurden, an attorney for the commission staff, reading from a draft of the order. The rate increase is temporary and subject to a refund after the commission examines whether the company’s utility spent prudently.

A bankruptcy court has denied both motions filed by El Paso Children's Hospital and UMC Health System, KFOX14.com reported yesterday. Children's Hospital pushed for a time extension to come up with a recovery plan, while UMC wanted to end the time Children's has now and move forward with its recovery plan. Children's has until Sept. 15 to come up with a plan and 60 days after filing to have it confirmed by both parties.

Everett Ridge Winery and Vineyard, one of the few vineyards in the U.S. owned by an African-American family and whose award-winning wines have been served at White House dinners, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a dispute with its bank, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Located in Northern California's Sonoma County, the winery has been trying to negotiate with its lender for several years to no avail, said Stephen Sterling, one of four brothers that owns the business with their parents. The bank loan requires a payment of nearly $1 million to refinance, Sterling said, leaving Everett Ridge and sister winery, Esterlina Vineyards & Winery LLC, with few options.

Optim Energy LLC will pay Blackstone Group LP $5 million to settle their fight in the Texas power-plant operator’s bankruptcy case in exchange for Blackstone dropping its appeal of Optim’s court-approved plan to exit bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Optim said in a Wednesday court filing that the deal will stop all litigation between the sides and will serve as the backbone to a liquidation plan for the six bankrupt Optim entities that weren’t included in a broader reorganization plan approved by a judge late last month. That proposal kept Optim in the hands of Bill Gates’s private investment firm, Cascade Investment. Crucially, Blackstone will drop a $190 million claim it had made for so-called rejection damages. A hearing on the settlement had been scheduled for Aug. 19. Blackstone won’t officially drop its appeal to the broader restructuring until the approval of the liquidation plan for the six entities.

Hercules Offshore Inc., owner of the largest fleet of shallow-water drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, filed for bankruptcy with a plan to be taken over by senior creditors, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company said that it planned to use the bankruptcy process to implement a proposal, announced in July, to cut $1.2 billion in debt. The plan calls for investors to trade their senior notes for almost 97 percent of Hercules’s equity. Some noteholders would also lend the company $450 million to help finish building a new oil-drilling rig, the company said in a statement. Under the plan, current shareholders would have a chance to split the 3 percent of the company not going to noteholders, Hercules said.

American Apparel Inc. warned on Tuesday that it had about $13 million of available cash and risked default if it didn’t raise money or refinance its debt, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The retailer, which also said that it would miss a regulatory deadline to file its June quarter financial results, toughened its language from a month earlier, when it disclosed it was running short of cash to meet its obligations over the next 12 months and said it intended to close several stores as part of an aggressive cost-cutting plan. American Apparel has staved off bankruptcy through cash infusions. It last amended its $50-million line of credit with Capital One in March, according to regulatory filings.