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Frederick’s of Hollywood Shutting a Third of Stores

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Frederick’s of Hollywood has hired liquidators to help close at least a third of its 93 stores as the lingerie retailer works to turn itself around, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bill Soncini, the company’s chief operating officer, said Great American Group is handling going-out-of-business sales at 31 of the chain’s locations and the number could rise slightly. The Los Angeles-based company, which carries racier lingerie than more mainstream brands like Victoria’s Secret, has stores in 27 states, including California, Florida, Texas and New York. One location slated to close is Frederick’s flagship store in Hollywood, which will shut down by the end of April, Soncini said.

Caesars Seeks to Disband Committee of Hostile Creditors

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Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. asked a judge to disband a committee of creditors that was set up to represent the interests of investors hostile to the bankrupt gambling company’s restructuring plans, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The panel of second-lien noteholders is dominated by hedge funds that sued the Las Vegas-based gambling company before it filed for bankruptcy last month and accuse it of scheming to defraud creditors. They have also sued the non-bankrupt parent, Caesars Entertainment Corp. Caesars asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy to either disband the committee, combine it with a related committee of unsecured creditors or limit how much the second-priority group can spend on legal fees. Because the two committees, organized by the U.S. Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog, have official status with the court, Caesars must pay their expenses, which in large cases can run into the tens of millions of dollars.
 

Trump Entertainment Creditors Settle to Ease Bankruptcy Exit

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A panel representing Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.’s unsecured creditors reached a deal to resolve disputes over a restructuring plan with the bankrupt casino company and lenders controlled by billionaire Carl Icahn, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The settlement “allows us to support the plan” and opens a path for Trump Entertainment to exit bankruptcy on schedule, Karen A. Giannelli, a lawyer for the unsecured creditors’ committee. Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy Sept. 9 and shut the Trump Plaza days later, one of four Atlantic City casinos that closed last year as the New Jersey gambling hub was battered by competition from surrounding states. The Trump Taj Mahal remains open after weathering multiple threatened closings and has secured financing from the Icahn group to keep running until the turnaround plan takes effect. Under the plan, the Icahn lenders would get control of the two casinos through a conversion of debt into equity in the reorganized company. The unsecured creditors had opposed Trump Entertainment’s reorganization plan, backed by the Icahn lenders, because they would only get to split a $1 million fund, for a recovery of less than 1 percent, according to court documents.

Revel Allowed to Scrap Second Bankruptcy Sale and Try Again

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Revel AC Inc., the bankrupt Atlantic City casino, is hoping to be third-time lucky after it won a court’s permission to scrap its second attempted sale and try once more to find a buyer, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. If the company strikes out, it could be game over for the casino which has suffered along with the rest of the seaside New Jersey town as gamblers are drawn to venues in neighboring states. Revel representatives have said the company could be forced to liquidate if it can’t attract a buyer within five months. Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns at a hearing yesterday in Camden, New Jersey, gave the company permission to cancel its $95.4 million deal with Florida real estate investor Glenn Straub. She also ruled that Revel can keep the bidder’s $10 million deposit, which will be held in escrow.

Energy Future’s “Make-Whole” Tender Offer Survives Appeal

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Tender offers that might not be possible outside of bankruptcy court got a blessing from a federal district judge in an appeal involving the reorganization of Energy Future Holdings Corp., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Energy Future, the Dallas-based power generator and distributor, filed for chapter 11 reorganization in April and got bankruptcy court approval in June to settle with holders of two issues of first-lien notes issued by the unit that owns 80 percent of the company’s regulated Oncor power-line business. The settlement allowed Energy Future to pay off first-lien debt with 5 percent extra for holders who gave up claims for a “make-whole,” a premium investors can collect when their bonds are paid off early. The settlement was financed with a $5.4 billion loan approved at the same time. The indenture trustee for one of the noteholder groups appealed and contended that the settlement was a coercive tender offer that wouldn’t pass muster outside bankruptcy and shouldn’t have been allowed in bankruptcy either. Delaware Trust Co., as indenture trustee for holders of 10 percent first-lien notes, argued on appeal that the decision established a precedent which would “open a Pandora’s Box of coercive tender offers in chapter 11.” U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews explained in his opinion that the differing recoveries resulted from maturity dates and interest rates on the two issues that weren’t identical. The judge rejected the argument that tender offers can’t be used in chapter 11 reorganizations before plan approval because the Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t involved in the process of approving solicitation materials as it would be outside of bankruptcy.

Delphi to Sell a Business to Germany’s Mahle

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A decade ago, U.S. auto supplier Delphi Automotive employed 47,000 people in its home market, and its revenue — nearly $30 billion — topped the global car parts industry, but its U.S. workforce has now shrunk to 5,000, aided by the shedding of 42 of the 47 factories it once ran here, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Spun off from General Motors Co. in the late 1990s, Delphi once sold everything from steering wheels to brake pads. Since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, the company has slimmed down to concentrate on supplying systems to improve fuel economy, auto safety and self-driving technologies. That focus will get even slimmer as Delphi has agreed to sell its lower margin automotive heating and cooling business to German competitor Mahle GmbH for about $727 million, a move that caps several years of refashioning the old-line U.S. parts maker to a more narrowly focused technology company. Delphi also reached a separate deal to sell its stake in Shanghai Delphi Automotive Air-Conditioning System Co. to Mahle.