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JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are in line to split between $1.5 billion and $2.6 billion in fees for being the conduits of the government’s aid program for small businesses stricken by the coronavirus shutdown, according to an analysis of newly released data, the Wall Street Journal reported. The nation’s two biggest banks by assets delivered more emergency loans than any other lenders that participated in the Paycheck Protection Program and the two are set to earn the biggest fees as well, according to a review of disclosures made on Monday by the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration. In total, the more than 4,000 lending institutions in the analysis are in line to split $14.3 billion to $24.6 billion in processing fees for PPP loans, according to Edwin Hu, at New York University School of Law’s Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance, and Colleen Honigsberg of Stanford Law School. The PPP has delivered more than $520 billion in loans meant to soften the economic blow of the novel coronavirus. The loans can be forgiven if businesses spend the money on certain expenses like rent or payroll, though businesses have said the process is confusing. It is common for banks to be compensated for facilitating loans made under government programs. What sets PPP apart is its size: The high end of the range of PPP fees lenders can earn exceeds the total size of the SBA’s flagship lending program in the 12 months ended Sept. 30. Banks have said they don’t expect sizable profits for the program. Getting their systems up-and-running quickly required diverting thousands of workers to help with applications and building new software to manage the process.

Ascena Retail Group Inc., the owner of mall brands that occupy almost 3,000 stores in the U.S., is preparing to file for bankruptcy and shutter at least 1,200 of those locations, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which owns brands such as Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant, could enter chapter 11 as soon as this week with a creditor agreement in place that eliminates around $700 million of its $1.1 billion debt load. Lenders including Eaton Vance Corp. would assume control of the company. Ascena has experienced years of financial losses amid a boom in online shopping and slowdown in foot traffic at malls. The bankruptcy filing would allow the company to keep some of its brands operating while it shutters or sells others, the people said. Catherines and Justice are among the chains it’s considering to close or sell. The plan is not final and certain details could change. Ascena shut its shops in mid-March as the coronavirus outbreak spread, and began to re-open locations in early May as state authorities lifted restrictions. Customer traffic is much lower than normal at the revived stores, the company said in an update on the impact from COVID-19 on its business. Like other retailers, the company cited a slump in sales tied to the closures. The company’s earnings and cash flow have been “significantly reduced” despite efforts to preserve liquidity, Carrie Teffner, Ascena’s interim executive chair, said in the update. Ascena previously failed to sell two of its chains amid the losses and signs that creditors were losing confidence in its prospects. In September management discussed divesting Catherines and Lane Bryant, which specialize in plus-size women’s apparel, Bloomberg reported.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is nearing a restructuring deal that would help stave off a near-term bankruptcy filing while turning down a competing financing offer from senior lenders including Apollo Global Management Inc., WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The proposed deal, which could be announced within days, would require bondholders to provide a $200 million senior loan and to swap their unsecured claims at a discount for new, second-lien debt, people familiar with the matter said. Private-equity firm Silver Lake Group LLC, which has a representative on the company’s board and owns $600 million of convertible bonds, would swap for first-lien debt. Senior lenders including Apollo, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and Ares Management Corp. have pushed back against the proposal, which would allow Silver Lake to share in the collateral pledged to them. The group, which is represented by law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, submitted a counterproposal in recent days in which they offered to inject an additional $200 million in senior debt financing, on top of $200 million supplied by junior bondholders. As a condition of the counteroffer, the senior lenders wanted Silver Lake blocked from swapping into the top-ranking debt and subordinated beneath the senior loans in the payment line.

Treasury officials yesterday announced that five more airlines have signed letters of intent to accept government loans through the $2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package known as the CARES Act, the Washington Post reported. Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines join American, Frontier, Hawaiian, Sky West and Spirit airlines, which signed letters of intent last week. That brings to 10 the number of U.S. carriers that have signaled they will accept loans in addition to billions of dollars in government grants as they struggle to stay afloat amid the worst economic downturn in the industry's history. Under the CARES Act, airlines were eligible to receive more than $50 billion in grants and loans. The $25 billion grant program was focused on keeping pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and other front-line workers on the job. Another $4 billion in grants was made available to cargo carriers. The CARES Act provided $46 billion in loans, with $25 billion available to airlines, certified repair stations and ticket agents. Companies that receive loans must follow conditions similar to those required under the grant program, including keeping employees on the payroll through the end of September, maintaining certain levels of service as far out as 2022, and limiting stock buybacks and executive compensation.

The number of Americans dismissed from their jobs fell sharply in May to match levels recorded before the coronavirus pandemic and related shutdowns caused widespread layoffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. In May, 1.8 million workers were laid off or otherwise discharged from their jobs, the Labor Department said yesterday. That was down from 7.7 million in April and 11.5 million in March. May’s dismissals were in line with the numbers reported in January and February, before the pandemic shut swaths of the U.S. economy. Yesterday’s report showed hirings and the number of open jobs also rose in May from April, signs that the labor market was healing this spring. However, the 5.4 million openings in May were dwarfed by the 21 million Americans unemployed that month. “Layoffs and discharges are settling back to levels similar to those we saw before the virus, and hiring snapped back as employers recalled workers,” said Nick Bunker, an economist with job-search website Indeed. But employer demand for workers moving forward is depressed, he said, noting job openings are down 23 percent compared with February. The numbers, which reflect the job market through the last business day of May, are consistent with other measures showing that hiring picked up and layoffs eased late this spring. The data don’t capture the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in several states and related moves by governors to halt or reverse plans to reopen their economies. The separate monthly jobs report, released last week, showed U.S. employers added about 7.5 million jobs to payrolls in May and June, after losing 22.2 million in March and April.

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, shutting businesses, killing the vulnerable and crippling economies, Puerto Rico has taken one of the country’s hardest economic hits, the New York Times reported. Gov. Wanda Vázquez was the first governor in the nation to order businesses to close and people to stay home. Experts say that her quick action helped stave off an even worse medical crisis on the island. But the pandemic has nonetheless plunged Puerto Rico into its fifth dire emergency in three years, one that the government has struggled to manage. Thanks largely to hurricane reconstruction, Puerto Rico’s economy had been inching toward recovery after a devastating 2017 storm and the bankruptcy of the island’s government the same year. A civic uprising paralyzed the island last summer and led to the ouster of Governor Vázquez’s predecessor. Then a series of earthquakes shook the south side of the island in January, damaging homes and buildings, sending thousands to live on the street, and closing schools across the island. As of last week, despite guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that everyone should be washing their hands frequently during the coronavirus pandemic, the governor announced that because of a severe drought, parts of the island would have running water only every other day for the foreseeable future. So far, the island has had 8,714 confirmed and likely cases of the virus, and 157 deaths. Experts say this latest economic crisis has been even more difficult than the one that followed Hurricane Maria. For one thing, aid has not come pouring in from around the world, as it did after disasters of the natural kind. And with Covid-19 creating serious problems in Florida and other parts of the United States, unemployed Puerto Ricans, who fled to the mainland in droves after Hurricane Maria, have nowhere to turn.

Endologix Inc., which makes medical devices for aortic disorders, has filed for chapter 11 protection and agreed to a plan of reorganization supported by Deerfield Partners, its largest creditor, that will take it private, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. Irvine, Calif.-based Endologix said that “after evaluating a variety of strategic options,” it decided the bankruptcy filing provided “the best path to address financial challenges resulting from COVID-19 and the related delays in elective medical procedures and to realize the full benefits of operational enhancements made over the past two years.” Endologix’ stock plummeted to a record low Monday after the announcement and was trading at 25 cents a share by late afternoon trading, down 68 percent from Friday’s close. Under the terms of the reorganization plan, Endologix will become a private company and said it expects to emerge well-capitalized by the end of the third quarter of 2020 and positioned for long-term growth.

Now that Minor League Baseball has canceled its season 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its teams face 19 months without revenue, which may lead to team sales or bankruptcies, the Tampa (Fla.) Business Journal reported. Last week, MiLB announced the cancelation of its 2020 season as the COVID-19 pandemic would keep fans from attending games. The lost season goes beyond a lack of games or even play experience for minor leaguers. The league’s cancelation came just before teams were expecting a huge financial windfall generated from the 2020 season. Now without the season, MiLB teams will go about 19 months without playing a game or generating revenue. Jeff Lantz, senior director of communications for St. Petersburg-based MiLB, said that he knew of very few business models that could withstand 19 months with little to no revenue. It especially hurts MiLB as it functions under razor-thin profit margins and has the length of its season, five months, to generate all the revenue needed to operate for the seven-month offseason. Unlike MLB, minor league teams never had the possibility of playing in empty stadiums as a majority of their revenue comes from ticket sales and stadium purchases. Lantz called games without fans a "nonstarter." The league has applied for federal loans to help its teams survive the play stoppage, Lantz said. Another issue for some minor league teams is the possible contraction of the league. As MiLB negotiates its Professional Baseball Agreement with MLB, about 40 teams are potentially on the chopping block as the major league looks to streamline the minors.

Houston-based Hi-Crush Inc. has extended its negotiation period with its creditors ahead of a planned bankruptcy filing, the Houston Business Journal reported. Hi-Crush fell into default on some of its debt on June 22, but it managed to reach a forbearance agreement with creditors, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forbearance periods are often used to create some breathing room within which debtors can negotiate the terms of a restructuring with their creditors. In fact, Hi-Crush said on June 25 that it had hired advisers to begin the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing and that it was looking to put together a prepackaged restructuring plan with its creditors. The forbearance period, during which creditors couldn’t take action based on the default, was set to expire on July 5, but the company and creditors agreed to extend it until the end of July 12, according to a July 6 SEC filing. Hi-Crush plans to file for bankruptcy protection whether its creditors agree to a restructuring deal or not, the company said in a June 25 press release. To respond to the downturn in market demand, Hi-Crush cut its workforce by about 60 percent since mid-March and reduced its 2020 capital expenditure expectations by nearly 40 percent compared to its initial guidance. The company started 2020 with 747 employees, and executives expected total 2020 capital expenditures to range between $45 million and $60 million as of February, prior to the global pandemic and oil price war.