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Adam Neumann, the former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, is trying to regain control of the bankrupt co-working company less than five years after the board forced him out, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. On Monday, Neumann’s lawyers sent a letter to WeWork’s advisers saying that he is partnering with Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge-fund firm and other investors in exploring a bid for the company. That effort is already facing challenges. Some WeWork creditors have signaled they are ready to sell the firm after it exits chapter 11, according to people familiar with the matter. But WeWork executives have been cool to Neumann’s interest. They have shut him out from information he would need to submit a bid for the company since he initially approached WeWork in December, according to Neumann’s letter that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It also isn’t clear how committed Third Point is to working with Neumann on a WeWork acquisition. A Third Point spokeswoman said the hedge fund “has not made a commitment to participate in any transaction” and had “only preliminary conversations” with Flow Global, Neumann’s real-estate company. WeWork lawyers said on Monday that the company is running short on cash and needs more money to get through its costly chapter 11 cases. In Neumann’s letter to WeWork, he said the current financial crunch was caused by the management’s lack of ability to “explore alternatives” for financial support.

WeWork may be forced to take on a new bankruptcy loan to make up for slower-than-expected progress on rent negotiations, an attorney for the shared office space provider said yesterday, Reuters reported. WeWork's post-bankruptcy business plan is premised on a significant reduction in future rent costs from its landlords, and WeWork is at a crossroads in that effort, according to attorneys for WeWork and its landlords who spoke at a bankruptcy court hearing in Newark, N.J. Several of WeWork's landlords decried the company's "hardball tactics", saying that U.S. bankruptcy law requires companies to keep up with rent for properties that they continue to use. Kris Hansen, an attorney representing WeWork creditors, said that WeWork has shown "painfully little progress" in its discussions with landlords, raising doubts about the company's long-term ability to pay its debts. WeWork attorney Steven Serajeddini acknowledged that the company's initial round of negotiations had been headed for "certain failure," but he said WeWork has had more success after withholding as much as $33 million in January rent from certain landlords. WeWork initially believed it could make it through its bankruptcy case using the $164 million of cash it had on hand in November, but it now believes that amount to be insufficient and is considering taking out a new bankruptcy loan, Serajeddini said. A new loan would likely be converted into WeWork equity after the company emerges from bankruptcy, he said.

Invitae, a medical genetics company that received backing from SoftBank Group at the height of the pandemic has hired restructuring advisers and is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company is working with FTI Consulting and law firm Kirkland & Ellis to explore strategic options, including bankruptcy, to address $1.5 billion in debt on its balance sheet. San Francisco-based Invitae, which has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, has started to shed some assets and cut costs, the company has said. Invitae’s decline parallels the collapse in value of its more popular industry peer 23andMe, a genetic testing company targeting consumers, that has seen its market cap shrink from $6 billion in 2021 to nearly zero. Invitae’s shares have tumbled to under $1 per share since 2020 when its stock reached over $50 and it had a market cap of over $7 billion. The company’s shares traded at 39 cents on Monday, following an 82% loss in value in the past 12 months. Invitae raised $1.2 billion in convertible debt from SoftBank in 2021, planning to use the proceeds primarily to acquire assets, the company has said. SoftBank remains an investor in the company.

Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren said at a hearing last week that neither plan proposed in the Rochester Diocese bankruptcy can move forward for a vote yet, the Rochester Beacon reported. Instead, he set an Apr.16 date for the hearing to be continued. It would be the hearing’s second continuation and third session. Judge Warren had previously called off an early October hearing that was to have dealt with the rival plans. Accounting for much of the complication is that insurance companies balked at payment amounts survivors sought as compensation. By the end of last year only one insurer, the Continental Insurance Co., also known as CNA, had not come to terms. Instead it offered a rival plan of reorganization to a joint plan offered earlier by the diocese and a committee representing survivors. The survivors’ committee has made it clear that it sees CNA’s plan as an inadequate take-it-or- leave-it offer. The court’s go ahead on a vote on one or both plans after the April 16 date assumes the diocese and CNA will have met series of conditions the judge laid out, many having to do with more clearly explaining legal issues to the nearly 500 abuse survivors who account for most of the diocese’s creditors.

Digital Currency Group objected late Monday to the bankruptcy plan of its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital, saying that the crypto lender is proposing to pay its customers more than they are legally entitled to, Reuters reported. DCG argued that Genesis should pay its customers and creditors no more than the value the crypto assets had in January 2023, when Genesis filed for bankruptcy. Genesis has instead proposed giving its customers "additional payouts" to account for the rising price of assets like bitcoin and etherium, which violates U.S. bankruptcy law, DCG said. According to DCG's objection, assets like bitcoin have risen substantially in value since Genesis's January 2023 filing, potentially allowing Genesis to repay customers based on deflated January 2023 prices and still have assets left over to pay DCG. "DCG cannot support a plan that is unlawful and deprives DCG of its corporate governance rights," DCG said in a statement. Genesis is proceeding with a liquidation of its assets after failing to reach settlements with DCG, its former business partner Gemini, and regulators suing the three companies over their business practices. Genesis has since reached a more limited settlement with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commision, agreeing to pay the agency a $21 million if it has any assets left over after fully repaying its customers.

Total bankruptcy filings were 36,607 in January 2024, a 17 percent increase from the January 2023 total of 31,176, according to data provided by Epiq Bankruptcy, the leading provider of U.S. bankruptcy filing data. January marks 18 consecutive months that total, individual, and commercial bankruptcy filings have registered monthly year-over-year increases. Individual bankruptcy filings also increased 17 percent in January to 34,515, up from the January 2023 individual filing total of 29,448. There were 19,590 individual chapter 7 filings in January 2024, a 25 percent increase over the 15,717 filings recorded in January 2023, and there were 14,871 individual chapter 13 filings in January 2024, a 9 percent increase over the 13,678 filings last January. Overall commercial bankruptcy filings rose 21 percent in January 2024, with the 2,092 filings ticking up from the 1,728 filings in January 2023. There were 460 commercial chapter 11 filings recorded in January 2024, a 22 percent increase from the 378 commercial chapter 11s in January 2023. Small business filings, captured as subchapter V elections within chapter 11, increased 43 percent to 176 in January 2024, up from 123 in January 2023.

Cano Health filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware late on Sunday and said it entered into a restructuring support agreement to reduce debt and solicit potential offers, including the sale of the firm, Reuters reported. Shares of the Miami-based company fell more than 50% before the bell. The primary care provider said it has received a commitment for $150 million in new debtor-in-possession financing from some of its existing lenders, which is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to support its ongoing operations. Under the restructuring support agreement (RSA), Cano Health said it can convert nearly $1 billion in secured debt into a combination of new debt and full equity ownership in the reorganized entity. Further, the agreement permits exploration of partnerships and potential offers, including the sale of the company or all its assets, Cano said. The company expects to achieve about $290 million of annualized cost reductions by the end of 2024 and to emerge from the restructuring process in the second quarter of 2024. Cano Health listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, according to the court filing.

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would file a second amended chapter 11 plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday and said it had obtained the support of the unsecured creditors' committee, Reuters reported. The company said it expected about $325 million to be allocated to general unsecured creditors as part of the amended plan, consisting of up to $250 million in cash and $75 million in new equity. The $75 million in new equity to be allocated to creditors would be distributed to general unsecured creditors like the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish states, aircraft lessors, pilot unions, and key suppliers, the company said. Other creditor classes, including holders of the listed commercial hybrid bonds, are expected to receive a cash-only recovery. The airline said that holders of the company's listed commercial hybrid bonds would receive an initial cash recovery of 6.9%–9.4% of the nominal value of claims after emerging from the chapter 11 process. SAS, Scandinavia's biggest carrier, reiterated that there would be no value for its existing shareholders and all of its common shares and listed commercial hybrid bonds will be cancelled, redeemed and delisted.

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings plunged to an all-time low on Thursday after the biotechnology company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, MarketWatch.com reported. Shares of the Burlington, Mass., company were recently changing hands at 33.4 cents, down 48%, after touching a record low of 24 cents early in the session. InVivo, which last year threw in the towel on its sole product candidate after disappointing study results, said it filed for bankruptcy after considering all strategic alternatives. The company said that it plans to seek court approval for a potential sale of its assets.