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Oil-and-gas company Hess and its bankrupt subsidiary Honx have agreed to pay up to $187 million under a deal to resolve the current and future asbestos claims asserted by the former contractors and employees of an oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to a settlement document filed with the court Thursday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Hess placed Honx, previously known as Hess Oil New York, under chapter 11 bankruptcy in April of last year to drive a settlement of hundreds of personal-injury lawsuits stemming from alleged exposure to asbestos, silica and other toxic substances at the St. Croix oil refinery. The facility was known from its 1966 opening through 1998 as Hovic, when it was owned solely by Hess, and later as Hovensa and then Limetree Bay, according to court papers. The chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston have dragged out as Honx has said that Hess agreed to fund any asbestos claims by maintaining a $10 million reserve, an amount criticized by asbestos claimants as “woefully insufficient.” But monthslong negotiations recently led to a deal under which Honx and Hess agreed to pay $105 million to resolve roughly 910 current asbestos claims. In addition, the companies agreed to pay $45 million for future claims, along with up to $37 million in the following 25 years to fund additional claims as they arise, according to the settlement term sheet filed with the court.

China Aoyuan Group Ltd. filed for chapter 15 protection in New York on Wednesday, a move by the defaulted property developer to seek U.S. court recognition for its offshore debt restructuring and ward off litigation, Bloomberg News reported. The Guangzhou-based developer, which had about $6 billion of total offshore interest-bearing liabilities as of the end of 2022, is undergoing restructuring in Hong Kong, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands after deciding last year to forgo paying debt. Its board has been counseled by its advisers to “seek recognition of the Hong Kong proceedings and related relief from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York,” according to a company filing with the court. Without U.S. court recognition, “there is litigation risk that dissenting holders of the existing public notes may file actions to enforce their claims in the U.S. courts even after the Hong Kong schemes are sanctioned by the Hong Kong court,” it said. Aoyuan joins a small but growing list of Chinese developers — as well as other non-U.S. debtors — to tap chapter 15 protection to more efficiently deal with offshore creditors or handle cross-border assets. China Evergrande Group, whose 2021 default accelerated the country’s property debt crisis, called the move a “normal procedure” since its dollar bonds are governed by New York law.

The founders of a failed crypto hedge fund have been hit with a billion-dollar asset freeze, the Wall Street Journal reported. Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, who ran collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, have been ordered by a British Virgin Islands court not to sell assets worth $1.144 billion, according to Teneo, the liquidator of the fund. The order also names Kelly Chen, Davies's wife. It is the latest effort by Teneo to seize assets from Zhu and Davies after the failure of Three Arrows, which made the duo deeply controversial figures in crypto. Zhu was held by Singaporean authorities in September, after Teneo won a court order. After two months, he was transferred from prison to home detention to serve the rest of the sentence. He was released earlier this week. Teneo said that the assets it wants frozen are intended to cover fund losses that the founders could have prevented. The freeze prevents Zhu from selling two properties in Singapore, while Davies and Chen can't dispose of one unit in the country, according to court documents. Zhu, Davies and Chen can each spend up to $10,000 a week to cover living expenses, but must let Teneo's lawyers know where the money will come from, the documents say.

Atlas Biologicals Inc., a Fort Collins, Colo.-based company that produces fetal bovine serum, has filed an adversarial action in the Thomas Kutrubes personal bankruptcy, seeking to prevent the discharge of a court-ordered penalty in Kutrubes’ bankruptcy, the Loveland (Colo.) Reporter-Herald reported. Kutrubes is the founder of Peak Serum Inc., a company formed in 2014 to compete against Atlas, where Kutrubes began his career in 2005. Fetal bovine serum is a byproduct of meatpacking and is derived from cow fetuses; it is used worldwide in biological research and cell generation. In 2016, Atlas determined that Kutrubes had stolen customer information and had misrepresented his relationship with Atlas to customers. Atlas sued and won a $2.05 million judgment. Kutrubes appealed and lost. Kutrubes and Peak Serum filed for chapter 11 protection — Peak Serum in 2019 and Kutrubes in 2020. The personal bankruptcy filing showed assets of $904,109 and liabilities of $3.6 million, including the judgment that he listed as disputed. The chapter 11 action was converted to chapter 7 liquidation Sept. 20, 2023. In chapter 7, a trustee sells eligible property and pays whatever debts can be covered by it.

Impel Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced yesterday that it is pursuing a sale of the company through an in-court restructuring process, and has filed voluntary petitions to commence chapter 11 proceedings to facilitate an orderly sale process, according to a company press release. The commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company has entered into a deal with JN BIDCO LLC to serve as the stalking-horse bidder for the firm and its assets. The filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas aims to get higher and better offers from interested parties. Impel seeks to complete the sale process in the first quarter of 2024, with any sale subject to court approval. According to the firm, the decision to file for chapter 11 protection follows the strategic review process that Impel announced in October 2023. During the review, the company had announced the exploration of a wide range of options including potential sale of assets of the company, a sale of all the company, a merger or other strategic transaction.

Two Rochester (Minn.) charter schools operating out of the same building have filed for bankruptcy, according to court documents, the Post Bulletin reported. The schools include the Rochester STEM Academy and the Rochester Math and Science Academy, which are located on 16th Street Southwest in a building formerly used as the First Baptist Church. The bankruptcy petition was filed Dec. 5. A representative for the schools could not be immediately reached. According to Minnesota statutes, charter schools are not allowed to "use state money to purchase land or buildings.” The schools created a nonprofit, called the Rochester MSA Building Co., to officially own the space. Court documents list the Rochester MSA Building Co. as a debtor along with the schools. In 2018, the nonprofit secured $15 million to renovate and expand the facility. Court documents say the nonprofit rents the building to the schools through separate leases. According to the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, the Rochester STEM Academy began in the fall of 2011, serving grades 9-12 with an enrollment of 116. The association says the school's focus is "minority, immigrant and other students currently underserved in traditional area high schools and greatly underrepresented in Rochester’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) industries." The Rochester Math and Science academy serves students K-8 and has an enrollment of 414. The Minnesota Association of Charter Schools says the school's focus is to serve an "immigrant population, multi-cultural," with an "emphasis on reading, writing and math."

Raleigh-based startup BOA Nutrition, which "made headlines earlier this year for going after NIL deals with notable athletes," has "filed for bankruptcy liquidation," the Sports Business Journal reported. BOA Nutrition in January teamed up with a group of athletes including UNC F Armando Bacot and Duke G Jeremy Roach. The deals "included equity ownership positions" for Bacot and Roach, "to the tune of half a percent each." BOA Nutrition CEO Jon Pritchett estimated at the time that "those stakes at current valuation amounted to between $150,000 and $250,000 combined." Its chapter 7 filing shows a company that "made big bets on multiple advertising and sponsorship campaigns" but "couldn't match its ambitions with solid revenue."

Arielle Charnas, a fashion influencer with more than one million Instagram followers, launched her clothing brand Something Navy in 2020 with about $10 million from investors. Now, after unraveling under mounting debt, the company is being sold in a fire sale that underscores the pitfalls of brands centered around online stars, the Wall Street Journal reported. A group of investors across apparel and real estate have agreed to buy the company in an asset and liability purchase, one of the buyers, IHL Group chief executive Sami Souid, said in an interview Tuesday. The investors plan to relaunch the Something Navy brand with Charnas as its creative director. Souid expressed confidence in Something Navy and Charnas. “We believe there’s a lot of opportunity here,” he said. “She’s built a beautiful brand, a beautiful product and she just needs the right manufacturing partner behind her.” Something Navy is offloading $7.5 million in liabilities and $483,000 worth of outstanding bills, according to a term sheet for the acquisition. The term sheet listed the consideration of the purchase at $1.