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A telehealth firm based in Charlotte has filed for chapter 11 protection, according to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Let's Talk Interactive filed the voluntary bankruptcy petition on Sept. 21. The company's secured and unsecured debt — excluding debts owed to insiders or affiliates — is less than $7.5 million, the filing shows. As a result, the firm was eligible to file for bankruptcy under subchapter five, which doesn't require it to receive creditors' approval for its repayment plan. The company estimated its assets and liabilities totaled between $1 million and $10 million, with an estimated creditors count between 1 and 49. Founded in 2001 by CEO Art Cooksey, Let's Talk Interactive's customizable telehealth solutions give health care and mental health professionals the ability to provide to services in a way that helps eliminate problems with patient accessibility. The company has also partnered with hospitals, assisted living facilities, prisons, rural community centers and disaster relief zones to install its telehealth kiosk machines. These kiosks can help facilitate virtual therapy sessions, videoconferencing, and check-in uses, among other things. Read more.

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A national real estate brokerage filed bankruptcy in Florida Southern District Court to restructure nearly $60 million in debt following a slew of state lawsuits over its marketing practices, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Boca Raton-based MV Realty Holdings submitted a chapter 11 petition on Sept. 22 on behalf of all of its entities across 30 U.S. states claiming it owes $58,763,035.80 to three lenders. Its largest creditor is a Monroe Capital credit facility for $40 million, followed by two private credit funds by Goodwood Lenders for a combined $18,763,035.80. The company currently lists its assets between $10 million and $50 million — so it owes more than what it's currently worth. MV Realty said that since last year it has been financially burdened by legal fees associated with lawsuits filed by the state governments of Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey and Indiana against the firm and other individual officers and licensed real estate brokers working in connection with its Homeowner Benefit Agreements.

Hartman SPE, LLC, a Houston-based office, retail and industrial real estate firm, filed chapter 11 protection, RealtyNewsReport.com reported. Silver Star Properties REIT is a transitioning company that was formerly affiliated with the Allen Hartman real estate investment organization. At the beginning of 2023, Harman SPE had over 40 office, retail and warehouse properties with about 7 million SF located in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Silver Star Properties has been disposing of its Texas-focused commercial property portfolio as it pursues a plan to become a REIT concentrated on self-storage properties. In the 1980s, Houston investor Al Hartman founded the predecessor roots of Hartman Short Term Income Properties XX. Mr. Hartman is no longer with the firm and CEO Mark Torok was replaced recently.

Soft Surroundings, the Creve Coeur-based retailer, has notified 181 headquarters employees that some will definitely lose their jobs while others might still keep their employment under a new owner, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. The retailer, which sells women’s clothes, beauty products, gifts and home décor, earlier this month said it plans to sell its direct-to-consumer assets to online retailer Coldwater Creek as part of a restructuring under a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. If approved, the plan calls for shuttering the local retailer's brick-and-mortar stores. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice received Monday by the state of Missouri, Soft Surroundings said that on Sept. 19 it notified all headquarters employees that if it's not successful in selling all or part of its business, it's likely the facility will close, "in which case all employees will be terminated." There also might be "additional layoffs" if the buyer doesn't take on all of the company's remaining workforce, officials told the state.

Ebix Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robin Raina received a $1.8 million bonus last week, even as a Sept. 30 deadline looms for the company to repay a loan of more than $600 million to a syndicate of US banks without having the cash on hand, Bloomberg News reported. Ebix, based in Johns Creek, Ga., disclosed the bonus in a regulatory filing Monday. It said that $1.2 million of the bonus was paid on Sept. 19, the day the board awarded it to Raina. The remainder will be paid in October, according to the filing. As of June 30, Ebix reported having $62.2 million of cash on its balance sheet and $14.4 million in short-term investments. It also said it had $8.3 million in restricted cash. Over the past two years, Ebix has amended its loan agreement with a consortium of US banks, led by Regions Financial Corp., multiple times to buy more time to pay off the loan. The company has been trying to spin off its India-based unit, EbixCash, in an initial public offering which was projected to be one of the largest in that country. The IPO filing is for 6,000 crore rupees, or about $700 million, of which some $300 million is earmarked for repayment of the debt. But the IPO has been delayed several times, in part because of questions from regulators. Hindenburg Research, which published a critical report about the finances of the Adani Group of companies earlier this year, criticized Ebix last year, describing the EbixCash unit, a money-transfer business, as a “house of cards.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it has concerns about Coinbase Global Inc.’s proposed involvement in Celsius Network’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Under the proposed plan, Celsius agreed to engage Coinbase to distribute assets to international customers. In a filing on Friday, the SEC — which charged Coinbase earlier this year with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing house — said the agreements “go far beyond the services of a distribution agent, contemplating brokerage services and master trading services that implicate many of the concerns” raised in its suit. Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and is working to emerge as a new user-owned company and distribute an estimated $2 billion of Bitcoin and Ether as part of the plan. Celsius wants to start fresh under new management led by investment firm Arrington Capital, part of a consortium called Fahrenheit LLC that won the crypto lender’s assets at a bankruptcy auction earlier this year.

Instant Brands, the Illinois-based bankrupt maker of the Instant Pot pressure cooker and Pyrex glassware, has drawn interest for different parts of its business from parties including Centre Lane Partners and hedge fund Citadel, Bloomberg News reported. Citadel has offered to purchase loan holdings from existing lenders at around 7 cents on the dollar. It’s asking those who don’t want to sell to team up in a potential bid for certain assets, such as the housewares business. That would allow lenders to use debt they’re owed toward purchasing the company’s assets out of bankruptcy. Its subsidiary Citadel Advisors owns about $7.4 million in loans to Instant Brands on behalf of funds and accounts managed by it, according to a June court filing. It’s part of a group of lenders that own or manage roughly $258.1 million in terms loans to the kitchen goods maker. Meanwhile, private equity firm Centre Lane is considering a bid for the appliance unit, said some of the people. Deliberations are fluid and there is no certainty that the parties will proceed with a final bid.

Wichita-based Pioneer Balloon Co. filed chapter 11 protection on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Kansas, the Wichita Business Journal reported. The 106-year-old company filed under the corporate names Continental American Corp. and affiliate Pioneer National Latex Inc., both located at 5000 E. 29th Street N. Under Continental American Corp., the company claims liabilities of more than $23 million, with more than $5 million owed in wages and $18 million in services and goods, according to court filings. It estimates assets between $50 million and $100 million. There are less than 1,000 creditors, according to the filing, with the largest individual creditors located outside the Wichita area. Pioneer Balloon manufactures latex balloons and hosts international balloon conventions. In addition, the company has listed several inter-company loans. These include $1.4 million owed to Pioneer Automation Technologies in El Dorado and $600,000 to Emily's Bubble Company, also in El Dorado.

Noble House Home Furnishings joined the ranks of furniture suppliers to file for bankruptcy earlier this month, with the company blaming cost inflation and past supply chain disruptions, among other challenges, Retail Dive reported. When the company filed for chapter 11, it owed suppliers and warehousers in its supply chain some $10 million from the period leading up to its bankruptcy, according to a court filing. Trade debts from importers and vendors in China and Vietnam make up a majority of the largest claims by the company’s unsecured creditors. Since filing, Noble House asked for and received court permission to make emergency payments to keep its suppliers in good stead and prevent warehousers from seizing inventory. Without the ability to pay claims to vendors as they arise, Noble House would face “significant disruption to [the company’s] operations at this critical time,” it said in the filing. Founded in 1992, the family-owned company drop-ships merchandise for some of the largest retailers in the U.S., including Amazon, Walmart, Costco, Wayfair, Overstock, Target and Home Depot, the company’s current CFO, Gayla Bella, said in court papers. Among its wholesale customers are off-price giants Ross Stores and TJX Cos.