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Individual stock traders looking to cash in winning bets on Hertz Global Holdings Inc. are in unfamiliar territory as the company exits chapter 11, finding themselves navigating a bankruptcy process that favors the interests of bigger, wealthier investors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. All Hertz shareholders will get paid on the company’s way out of chapter 11, receiving a mix of cash, securities in the reorganized business and the right to buy stock in the future. By Friday, they must pick among several choices involving the rights to buy additional stock, with their options determined by eligibility standards tied to personal wealth. Shareholders weighing the various decisions include the day traders who bought Hertz stock when it was cheap last year, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Some are mom-and-pop investors who don’t meet criteria to take part directly in one of the stock-buying programs, though they could sell their rights to participate to qualified investors. Other investors have trouble understanding their options and said they can’t get straight answers from the company or from their own advisers. Some said they felt left behind in a bankruptcy-exit process that wasn’t developed with amateur investors in mind. Hertz’s situation is unusual due to the dramatic revival in its prospects in recent months. Shareholders rarely matter when a company goes bankrupt, because there is typically not enough value to repay creditors, which must be satisfied in full ahead of equity. Hertz, though, has estimated shareholders will get a payout of $7 to $8 a share, according to court papers.

LATAM Airlines Group, the region’s largest carrier, said on Wednesday that it had sought to extend until September the deadline to present its restructuring plan as part of the bankruptcy protection process initiated in 2020, Reuters reported. LATAM filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. in May of last year, hammered by the world travel crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, it was the world’s largest airline to take such action due to COVID-19. A judge had previously ordered the company deliver its restructuring plan by the end of June, and the company has said it hopes to wrap up the process in 2021. Latam also told Chilean securities regulators it has requested a second disbursement for $500 million under its DIP credit agreement. The airline said that the additional funds were necessary given “the extension of the health and mobility restrictions imposed by the authorities in the different countries in that the Company operates, as well as the analysis of the Company’s liquidity projection." The company also received a $1.15 billion debtor-in-possession loan in October last year. Earlier on Wednesday Latam said it expects to ramp up its June operations to 36% of their pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, bolstered by the quickening pace of vaccination in some countries in the region.

The company that owns The Heights Hospital filed for chapter 11 protection on June 1 — nearly five months after its doctors, nurses, support staff and even patients were locked out of the building because of alleged financial delinquency, the Heights (Texas) Leader reported. According to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, 1917 Heights Hospital, LLC, estimates that it has between $100-$500 million in assets and between $10-$50 million in liabilities. Its list of creditors, according to court filings, includes utility and telecommunications companies as well as the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD), the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service. Another creditor is Nevada-based Arbitra Capital Partners, LLC, which in early January filed a lawsuit against The Heights Hospital managers Dharmesh Patel and James Robert Day, alleging they owe roughly $3.5 million in interest related to a $28 million promissory note they signed for the property at 1917 Ashland St. in January 2019, according to Harris County court documents. County court records also show that a group of Houston investors sued the hospital and some of its related entities and individuals in February, seeking more than $2 million in damages and alleging their investment in the hospital was fraudulently misappropriated. According to a June 4 court filing by the attorney representing the hospital in the latter case, “The hospital was forced into closure by the business downturn precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

A year of remote work has forced many to rethink what post-pandemic office life will be like — including the retailer that has been dressing businesspeople for 200 years. That’s the idea behind a series of initiatives from Brooks Brothers as it plots a relaunch after exiting bankruptcy last year, Bloomberg News reported. There’s a new athleisure line, a product mix with other casual items and a mascot: Henry the Sheep. The move is overdue, said Ken Ohashi, who took over as chief executive officer in January with a plan to capture more of Brooks Brothers’s regular customers’ spending. Even before the pandemic, shoppers’ tastes were shifting away from dressier clothing and toward more casual offerings. New York-based Brooks Brothers will try by adding more relaxed shirts, suits and bottoms, with items like knits and sweaters. That’s alongside the new men’s and women’s athleisure lines including hoodies and sweatpants. The company will still use its Golden Fleece logo, but added its modernized mascot this month to represent the new vibe. Authentic Brands Group bought Brooks Brothers out of bankruptcy along with SPARC Group, a joint venture with mall owner Simon Property Group, adding it to a portfolio of other formerly bankrupt retailers including Forever 21. Authentic is preparing for an initial public offering, Bloomberg reported last month.

More than a fifth of retail space on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile is vacant after shoppers were driven away by the pandemic and unrest. Now, the reopening city urgently needs them to return, Bloomberg News reported. The corridor, one of America’s quintessential big-city shopping experiences, bolsters Chicago’s finances — the zip code where it’s located generated about $150 million from sales taxes in 2019. Last year, that plunged to around $60 million, according to local Alderman Brian Hopkins, whose ward includes the iconic stretch of Michigan Avenue. The Magnificent Mile’s decline has been even more dramatic than other downtown slumps — Chicago has emerged more vulnerable than most due to its longstanding population decline that’s shrinking the tax base, unfunded pension liabilities of more than $30 billion, and a decade-long run of budget deficits. “The vacancies are a concern,” said Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack, who chairs the city council’s finance committee. “Those sales taxes pay for our programs. If someone buys stuff, that is funding for our budget.” Samir Mayekar, Chicago’s deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development, said the corridor is “crucially important to the future of the city” and acknowledged the urgency of reinvigorating it.

For millions of Americans, there’s an unwelcome side of the return to business-as-usual after the pandemic: They’ll have to start repaying their student loans again, Bloomberg News reported. More than 40 million holders of federal loans are due to start making monthly installments again on Oct. 1, when the freeze imposed as part of COVID-19 relief measures is due to run out. It covered payments worth about $7 billion a month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated. Their resumption will eat a chunk out of household budgets, in a potential drag on the consumer recovery. Americans now owe about $1.7 trillion of student debt, more than twice the size of their credit-card liabilities. Politicians recognize it’s not sustainable. Yet for all the talk of loan forgiveness during last year’s election campaign — including from President Joe Biden, who promised to write off at least $10,000 per borrower — there’s been no progress toward shrinking the pile.

Many renters who missed rent payments during the pandemic are unable to access billions of dollars in federal rent aid that started flowing to states and cities five months ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. Local governments across the U.S. have struggled with how to distribute the money, and some have complained that their staffs are being deluged by a flood of aid requests. Numerous renters are being disqualified for failing to correctly complete their applications, local officials say. President Biden has yet to say if he will extend the eviction ban that was first put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back in September 2020 and is set to expire on June 30. It has been extended before. f the ban expires before more of the $47 billion in aid reaches landlords and tenants, it will result in a surge in evictions the money was intended to prevent, housing advocates say. About 11 million tenants are considered at risk of eviction due to financial hardship, according to government figures. While the U.S. Treasury Department oversees the rent aid, local officials are responsible for distributing the money. They have some leeway in deciding how to distribute it and what tenants must do to qualify. Treasury last month recommended a series of changes to expedite payments and break the logjam. Those included loosening documentation requirements for renters, as well as allowing aid to be paid directly to renters instead of landlords.

Republican governors in 25 states are in the midst of a giant economic experiment, ceasing enhanced jobless aid for an estimated 4 million people, arguing that the generous benefits are dissuading people from going back to work. But a number of these governors have personal connections to businesses that are trying to find workers and could benefit from the policy change, according to a Washington Post review of financial disclosures from state elected officials. In New Hampshire, the governor’s family invests in a large resort that has many employees. In North Dakota, the governor sits on the board of a family agricultural business that is seeking to fill numerous jobs, including posts for truck drivers and technicians. Mississippi’s governor is a shareholder in his father’s air conditioning and supply firm. These are among the many governors who have taken steps to cut expanded jobless aid in recent weeks. When West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced his decision last month to cut federal unemployment benefits for his state’s jobless residents, he pointed to what he said was a plethora of openings for those who needed work. Justice didn’t need to look far for examples of companies struggling to hire workers. The storied West Virginia resort he owns, the Greenbrier, has been looking for dozens of new employees in recent weeks and until recently had received far fewer applications than normal. But after Justice announced his decision, that started to change, said Kathy Miller, vice president of human resources at the luxury hotel.

The expectation that hundreds of so-called zombie companies will fail over the next few years and drag on the economy is among the major concerns prompting insurers to reduce risk and charge higher premiums, a trend likely to continue as failures increase, Swiss Re AG said today. Zombies — which lack the cash flow to cover the cost of their debt — are "a ticking time bomb" whose explosive effects will be felt as governments and central banks withdraw measures that have helped keep these companies alive during the pandemic, Jerome Haegeli, chief economist at the Swiss insurer, told Reuters. The sober prediction comes as stock prices hit records and the U.S. economy appears headed for 6.5% growth this year. Yet these strengths are illusory, Haegeli said, because they are based on temporary fiscal and monetary support. Haegeli said the proportion of companies that are zombies certainly increased during the pandemic, as central banks flooded markets with money and governments provided relief. At the same time, U.S. company bankruptcies fell 5% in 2020, Swiss Re said in a report released today. Before the pandemic, about 20% of listed firms in the United States and UK were zombies, and 30% in Australia and Canada, the Bank for International Settlements said in September. By comparison, zombies constituted about 15% of listed companies in 14 advanced economies in 2017 and 4% before the 2008 financial crisis. Insurers are being cautious as they forecast where the economy will be in a year or more, Haegeli said. They are reining in underwriting risk, being more prudent about investment portfolio asset allocations and even taking precaution on insuring operations and supply-chain risk.