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Lenders to Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group won control of the company in a court-supervised restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The bid by the creditors’ group, which represents holders of about $760 million in Cirque debt and includes Toronto-based Catalyst Capital Group Inc., must still receive the approval of a Canadian court. Lenders are planning to inject $375 million of new capital into the Montreal-based company to restart its shows. Under the proposal, first-lien creditors, owed more than $900 million as of March 31, wind up with virtually all of the equity. “The offer made by our secured lenders is a clear recognition of our iconic brand and of the current management team,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lamarre said in an email. “We are focusing on the relaunch of our shows and look forward to moving the organization forward with the prospect of returning to a profitable situation.” Cirque shareholders including TPG, China’s Fosun International Ltd. and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec will see their investment wiped out under the creditors’ plan. TPG bought a majority stake in 2015.

Mexican carrier Aeromexico, which filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. at the end of June, said it has reached an agreement with the holders of its short term stock certificates, Reuters reported. Aeromexico said in a statement on Tuesday that holders of its AEROMEX01119, AEROMEX01219, AEROMEX00120 and AEROMEX00220 stock certificates agreed to a “waiting period” of up to 12 months during which they will not require payments from Aeromexico. “As part of the agreement reached, Aeromexico agreed to recognize the outstanding debt under the instruments through the formal restructuring process under chapter 11 (and) provide information on the progress of the restructuring process,” said the firm.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that Democrats might cut their stimulus proposal to seal a deal with Republicans and speed COVID-19 relief, then come back after the November elections with additional agenda items, Bloomberg News. Pelosi said she doesn’t want to wait until the end of September when Congress will be attempting to pass a bill needed from Congress to keep the federal government funded at the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1. As for a stimulus package, she said, “We have to try to come to that agreement now.” The speaker also said that “we’re willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now,” though her spokesman Drew Hammill later said that she meant meeting Republicans “halfway, not cutting our bill in half.” The Democratic-controlled House passed a stimulus package worth about $3.5 trillion in May. Senate Republicans offered their own $1 trillion plan at the end of July. But negotiations between Democratic leaders and the White House have been stalled since Aug. 7. Pelosi had previously said Democrats could cut their top-line by $1 trillion if the Republicans moved up by $1 trillion. “We’ll take it up again in January,” Pelosi said yesterday. The Trump administration has advocated a so-called skinny approach, pushing for a smaller package that addresses areas on which both sides agree. A key sticking point so far has been a Democratic call for almost $1 trillion in aid for state and local authorities, which have seen their finances crippled by the economy’s slump into recession. President Donald Trump says the move would reward what he says are poorly run states. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, one of the two key Republican negotiators along with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said earlier Tuesday he hoped to meet with Pelosi later in the week to resume talks. He noted that the House is now scheduled to return to session, to take up funding for the Postal Service, which has become embroiled in a political battle ahead of a November election set to feature unprecedented mail-in balloting. “Since Speaker Pelosi is coming back to look at Postal, hopefully she will be more interested in sitting down,” Mnuchin said on CNBC. The chamber is set to vote on Saturday on adding $25 billion in Postal Service funding.

Giant mall owner Simon Property Group is pursuing an unorthodox business strategy, smashing the foundation of the traditional industry model on the one hand while trying to glue certain elements of it back together with the other, the Wall Street Journal reported. Simon has been in talks with Amazon.com Inc. to convert department stores into warehouse distribution hubs, an innovation that could plug large holes filled by ailing tenants such as Sears Holdings Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. But the move would challenge a long-held industry belief that anchor tenants are crucial for attracting foot traffic to other stores. At the same time, Simon has been trying to keep aspects of the old business model intact, despite heightened pressure from e-commerce and other forces that have pushed some once-prominent retailers into bankruptcy. It is using cash to help stabilize some companies whose demise would mean closing stores in Simon malls. The mall operator and a partner recently agreed to buy apparel retailers Brooks Brothers Inc. and Lucky Brand Dungarees LLC out of chapter 11. With another partner, Simon is in advanced talks to buy J.C. Penney.

Costa Hollywood Beach Resort’s unsold units were slated for a bankruptcy auction and generated plenty of interest but no qualified bidders, more than likely because the coronavirus pandemic put the hospitality industry in a historic nosedive, Law.com reported. 777 N. Ocean Drive LLC, the lender on the project that sought to foreclose on the development team after it stopped paying, is in line to buy the unsold units under its $43 million stalking-horse bid. The lender, an affiliate of New York-based private equity firm Madison Realty Capital, offered a credit bid, which counts against the overdue loan. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol of the Southern District of Florida set a hearing on a final sale for Aug. 26. “In this market, especially after COVID hit, it’s a little bit harder to take out a secured lender that’s coming in with a credit bid of $43 million. It’s a lot of money,” said debtor’s attorney James Moon. Moon, a partner at Meland Budwick in Miami, said he doesn’t know if the pandemic is to blame but guesses that’s the reason for an absence of bidders. Over 180 groups expressed interest, signing confidentiality agreements with broker Cushman & Wakefield, but none qualified. The 326-unit Costa Hollywood condominium-hotel became distressed before the coronavirus pandemic. The lender, which issued $70 million in project financing in 2016, filed for foreclosure in Broward Circuit Court in April 2019 against the development group, Costa Hollywood Property Owner LLC. It’s led by developer Moses Bensusan, CEO of the Liberty Grande LLC real estate firm. Costa Hollywood, which owns 43 unsold residential units, nine commercial units and the common area, filed for chapter 11 reorganization last September. Qualified bids were due last Thursday, but with no bidders an auction scheduled for Monday wasn’t held.

U.S. homebuilding accelerated by the most in nearly four years in July in the latest sign the housing sector is emerging as one of the few areas of strength in an economy suffering a record slowdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Housing starts increased 22.6 percent — the biggest gain since October 2016 — to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.496 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Data for June was revised up to a 1.22 million-unit pace from the previously reported 1.186 million. July’s construction pace was the fastest since February, the month when a record-long U.S. economic expansion abruptly ended as the coronavirus began spreading rapidly around the country, triggering business shutdowns and widespread stay-at-home orders. With last month’s increase, new home building is just 4.5 percent below February’s pace of 1.567 million units.

The S&P 500 index closed at an all-time high yesterday, completing its recovery from the stock market crash after the onset of the coronavirus crisis in February, Reuters reported. The index ended at 3,389.78 points, above the previous record close of 3,386.15 on Feb 19. Earlier it topped the old intraday high of 3,393.52 hit the same day, further underlining the disconnect between a rally driven by trillions of dollars in government stimulus and a recession-hit U.S. economy. The record confirms, according to a widely accepted definition, that Wall Street’s most closely followed index entered a bull market after hitting its pandemic low on March 23. It has surged about 55 percent since then. It makes the bear market that started in late February the S&P 500’s shortest ever. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite in June was the first of the three major U.S. stock indexes to reclaim record highs as investors gravitated to stocks including Amazon.com and Netflix seen as stay-at-home winners from COVID-19 lockdowns. It has taken the benchmark S&P 500 about two months longer as surging COVID-19 cases sparked fears of another round of shutdowns that would again cripple business activity and crush U.S. corporate earnings.

For large American companies, the most recently completed quarter was the most extreme in years, as the coronavirus pandemic shook up consumer habits and the economy at large, the Wall Street Journal reported. Overall, revenue for the companies in the S&P 500 index is on track to fall 9.2 percent year over year for the most recently completed quarter, based on actual results and estimates for those companies yet to report, FactSet said. This is below the five-year average revenue growth rate of 3.7%, the data tracker said, and would be the largest year-over-year revenue decline since the third quarter of 2009. Some of the biggest revenue gainers involve companies that benefit from people spending more time living and working at home. These include companies that deliver key products, entertainment and services to homebound customers and workers. Meanwhile, companies feeling more pain from the pandemic include those that are connected to travel and tourism, depend on customers leaving their homes, and rely on advertising and special events.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) yesterday cast doubt on whether negotiators would be able to break the impasse on a fifth coronavirus package, though he said that he thinks there needs to be another bill, The Hill reported. "We do need another bill and I'm hoping that this impasse will end soon.... [But] I can't tell you yet here today whether there's going to be additional relief for health care providers," McConnell said. "I'm hoping what we're talking about today is not that last tranche that we will make, but as of the moment, today, I can't tell you with certainty we're going to reach an agreement," he said, adding that the talks had been "further complicated" by the November elections. McConnell's remarks come after negotiations between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats derailed earlier this month amid deep policy and political differences. Republicans have lined up behind aid totaling roughly $1 trillion, while the House passed a more than $3 trillion package in May. As part of the talks, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered to drop their price tag by $1 trillion if Republicans agreed to add $1 trillion to their top line.