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Frederick’s of Hollywood Inc. yesterday won bankruptcy court approval to sell its fabled lingerie brand to licensing company Authentic Brands Group Inc. for $22.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross signed off on the sale yesterday at a hearing. Authentic Brands, which owns celebrity brands like Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley, as well as women’s fashion brands such as Jones New York and Juicy Couture, is buying Frederick’s intellectual property, some inventory and its e-commerce business. The company licenses the intellectual property to retailers and manufacturers. Read more.

Patriot Coal Corp. has lined up a deal to sell most of its operating mines to Blackhawk Mining LLC, in a debt-fueled transaction that leaves retirees and union contracts behind, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In bankruptcy for the second time in recent years, Patriot's been struggling against declining demand for coal. It's racing to get a deal in place before it runs out of money and is forced to shut down but faces resistance from some creditors to the sale. Patriot returned to bankruptcy in May, less than 18 months after emerging from chapter 11. The West Virginia mining company said that it had a sale in the works that would help it tackle its debt load, which includes $791 million in loans and bond debt.

Kitchenware manufacturer EveryWare Global said yesterday that it has emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership and with $250 million in debt erased from its balance sheet, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Sam Solomon, EveryWare Global's chief executive, said the company is leaving chapter 11 with a strengthened balance sheet and $110 million in exit financing. The maker of Anchor Hocking and Oneida kitchen products arrived in bankruptcy in April with a prearranged deal with senior lenders. They have agreed to swap the approximately $250 million they're owed for 96 percent of EveryWare Global's new common stock, under the chapter 11 plan.

Struggling oil-and-gas producer Samson Resources Corp. is weighing whether to slash its $4.2 billion debt load through a bankruptcy restructuring or take a rescue loan from a group of junior creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Samson, based in Tulsa, Okla., said in March that a chapter 11 filing might offer the best route to restructure its heavy debt load, a legacy of a 2011 leveraged buyout led by private-equity firm KKR & Co. The company is now in talks with a pair of creditor groups on different debt-restructuring options, including one that would at least temporarily keep it out of bankruptcy court. Junior bondholders including GSO Capital Partners LP and Centerbridge Partners LP have offered to exchange their notes at a discount for higher-ranking debt. Meanwhile, a group of Samson lenders including Cerberus Capital Management LP has offered to exchange its debt for ownership in the company through a chapter 11 restructuring. That plan would wipe out Samson shareholders, including KKR, and junior creditors. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

For further analysis of oil and gas bankruptcies, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

LightSquared Inc. won a judge’s approval for $1.75 billion in exit financing as it gets set to conclude a contentious three-year trip through bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The wireless broadband venture, which has been locked in a battle with Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen, also got permission to keep secret key data on fees to investment bankers and lenders led by Credit Suisse Group AG, Jefferies Group LLC and Morgan Stanley. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman approved the bankruptcy plan in a March 26 ruling that resolved most disputes between LightSquared and Ergen, and she approved the exit financing yesterday.

Advanced battery maker A123 Systems Inc., bought out of bankruptcy in 2013 by a Chinese auto-parts maker, is investing $300 million to double its global battery-making capacity, adding to plants in Michigan and China to meet surging demand, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The turnaround reflects the company’s change in strategy to focus on 12-volt lithium-ion batteries for starting cars as well as larger 48-volt batteries that can inexpensively turn cars into hybrid, gasoline-electric cars. These batteries serve as substitutes for traditional lead-acid batteries found in the hundreds of millions of cars on the road today. Work is to begin on expanding the three plants this year. A123 has one factory in Michigan and two in China. Demand for the batteries is primarily in Europe and China, where the demands to improve fuel economy and reduce exhaust pollution are higher than in North America.