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One of Minnesota's best-known breweries filed for bankruptcy protection this week as Fair State Brewing Cooperative seeks a way through a mountain of debt, the Star Tribune reported. CEO Evan Sallee said the doors will remain open at Fair State's northeast Minneapolis taproom in the meantime. "From a consumer standpoint, nothing should change," he said. "This is the process that will enable us to keep going." The chapter 11 filing seeks to reorganize the cooperative's liabilities, which include $2.5 million in secured claims. A successful resolution will keep the brewery in business; the alternative would be chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which assets are sold to pay creditors. The cooperative reported $3 million in assets and $5.1 million in total liabilities, including debts to more than 100 creditors that especially piled up during the pandemic. "We've been moving heaven and earth to get out from under it," Sallee said. "It has not been my favorite day. But we have a solid plan to get through it, and I don't think we need to make any drastic pivots." Fair State made history in 2020 when it became the first unionized craft brewery in the nation. It also became a pioneer in the THC beverage market when opening Chill State Collective last year, a distribution center and co-manufacturing hub for several brands. Fair State saw revenue jump from $4.5 million in 2022 to $7.4 million last year as a result.

Shares of Sientra plunged Tuesday after the surgical aesthetics company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to pursue a sale of its business through a court-supervised auction process, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Sientra shares were recently down 52% at 28 cents. Shareholders are generally wiped out in bankruptcy cases. Sientra said it would seek an expedited sale process, adding that it would use its existing cash reserves and $22.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lenders to facilitate the sale and support its continuing operations. The Irvine, Calif., company said the debtor-in-possession financing will also include a roll-up of $67.5 million of its prebankruptcy debt obligations. Sientra said it aims to emerge from the bankruptcy process with increased financial stability, and that multiple parties have expressed interest in an acquisition.

A group of Spirit Airlines Inc. bondholders have tapped Evercore Inc. as adviser in anticipation of upcoming debt talks, Bloomberg News reported. Evercore’s selection follows the earlier retention of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for legal advice, Bloomberg previously reported. Spirit’s ability to manage more than $1 billion of debt that comes due in 2025 and 2026 has come into question after a federal judge blocked a tie-up with JetBlue Airways Corp. The group holds a majority of the company’s 8% notes due in 2025. That debt trades at around 72.25 cents on the dollar, up from lows of 51.5 cents a day after the court ruling. The budget airline is getting advice from law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell and investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners. On last week’s quarterly earnings call, Spirit Chief Financial Officer Scott Haralson said “the company is aware of its 2025 and 2026 debt maturities and is assessing options to address those maturities when the time is appropriate,” though it is also appealing the court decision. The Miramar, Fla.-based airline reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and said it has enough liquidity to operate on its own.

Enviva, the largest U.S. wood pellet exporter, is preparing to file for bankruptcy within days after a bad bet on future prices of the commodity triggered nine-figure losses, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Bethesda, Md.-based company last month entered into a 30-day grace period that expires on Thursday after missing a $24 million interest payment owed to its bondholders. Enviva is making preparations to file for bankruptcy as soon as the end of this week, but it might push the filing back to continue negotiations if the bondholders agree to extend the grace period, the people said. A group of Enviva’s bondholders is offering the company financing for the chapter 11 process. Enviva’s shares, which fared well during the pandemic and last year’s European energy crisis, have lost 99% of their value in the past 12 months. The stock closed Tuesday below 45 cents a share after news of the possible bankruptcy filing and continued to fall in after-hours trading. https://www.wsj.com/articles/wood-pellet-maker-enviva-prepares-to-file-… Rents Boost U.S. Consumer Prices in January U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in January amid a surge in the cost of shelter, but the pick-up in inflation did not change expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in the first half of this year, Reuters reported. The largest increase in prices in four months reported by the Labor Department on Tuesday came against the backdrop of labor market strength and economic resilience. Some economists also blamed difficulties adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations for the stronger-than-expected inflation readings. "Today's data is not what markets or the Fed would have liked to see, but it's important not to over react and jump to the assumption that an inflationary resurgence is developing," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. "A March cut is completely off the agenda, but May could still be in play if economic activity plays ball and finally starts to show the impact from prior Fed tightening." The consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.3% last month after gaining 0.2% in December, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Shelter, which includes rents, accounted for more than two-thirds of the rise in the CPI. New weights, published last week, which saw the housing share rising and that of new and used cars lowered, were used to calculate the January consumer price data.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, asking a judge to determine how much the FDIC must pay to cover an estimated $1.45 billion tax debt owed by the failed Silicon Valley Bank, Reuters reported. The FDIC, which seized SVB and its assets in March 2023, has denied the entire tax claim, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Washington. The IRS said the court should overrule the FDIC's decision to deny the tax claim, and make a new determination on the validity and amount of taxes owed. The FDIC is acting as a receiver for the bank, gathering the bank's assets and using them to repay SVB's creditors. The IRS said that its initial $1.45 billion claim was an estimated total for taxes due between 2020 and 2023, and that it was still reviewing SVB's tax returns when it filed the claim. The IRS later learned that some of the employment taxes included in its claim have already been paid. The IRS and the FDIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the dispute. Santa Clara, California-based SVB became one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history when it collapsed on March 10, sending shockwaves through the regional banking industry in the U.S. and disrupting many tech startups that housed their cash at the bank. The FDIC has also been sued by SVB Financial, SVB's former parent company, over its seizure of $1.93 billion in cash during its takeover of the bank.

Apparel retailer Express is preparing for a debt restructuring that could include filing for bankruptcy within weeks, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Ohio-based retailer known for its affordable office wear has hired restructuring adviser M3 and law firm Kirkland & Ellis to consider how to restructure nearly $280 million of debt amid declining sales. Publicly traded Express is still trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy by restructuring debt outside of chapter 11, the people said. Whether that is successful will depend on its lenders agreeing to provide more liquidity or loosening repayment options. Express’s ability to avoid bankruptcy also hinges on whether vendors are willing to keep shipping goods without tightening payment schedules. Express shares fell 12% to close at $3.75 on Monday after the news of a possible bankruptcy filing. The shares were down 23% to $2.90 in after-hours trading, and are down about 98% since August 2021. Express, which operates more than 600 retail and outlet stores, has said the business has struggled because of higher interest rates, slower store traffic, lower consumer spending and increasing competition from other retailers selling similar clothing at a deep discount. Its inventory also isn’t in line with what customers demand, the company has said.

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority is keeping a planned March 4 confirmation hearing, denying a request from some creditors to postpone a discussion of the utility’s debt-cutting plan on that date, Bloomberg News reported. Bond insurance companies and certain investors of the electric utility’s nearly $9 billion of debt sought to delay the March confirmation hearings until the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit determined whether bondholders have a secured claim to the agency’s future revenue collections. U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain Monday rejected that request. Prepa, as the utility is known, has been in bankruptcy since July 2017 and Swain has expressed eagerness to resolve a case that’s already been held up by natural disasters, the pandemic and the commonwealth’s own bankruptcy process. “What movants propose will likely leave the debtor, the commonwealth, and the people of Puerto Rico in a further prolonged state of uncertainty and impede progress toward renewal of the critical service infrastructure necessary to Puerto Rico’s return to the capital markets,” Swain wrote in her decision. Assured Guaranty Corp., Syncora Guarantee, GoldenTree Asset Management and an ad hoc group of bondholders were seeking to delay the March 4 hearing. Prepa’s debt plan would slash $10 billion of claims by 75%. It has the support of BlackRock Financial Management and Nuveen Asset Management.

When New York Community Bancorp posted large losses last month and warned of more difficulties to come, it pointed to a significant cause for concern: troubled loans in a sinking corner of the New York City apartment market, the Wall Street Journal reported. NYCB is the city’s largest lender on rent-stabilized apartments. About $18 billion of its loans are backed by the city’s rent-stabilized units, representing more than 20% of its total loan book. Many of these loans were made when developers had more flexibility to upgrade rent-stabilized units and then boost the rent to market rate, or convert them to condominiums. In 2019, new laws capped the amounts that landlords can raise rents at these properties. Though these buildings could still deliver steady returns, business plans that were based on steeper rent increases no longer penciled out. Property values started to plummet. Sale prices of buildings containing rent-regulated units have fallen 34% since then, according to Maverick Real Estate Partners, a private-equity fund manager. Some rent-stabilized multifamily buildings have sold for half — or even less than half — of what owners paid for them before the 2019 law went into effect.

A filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the district of Nevada on February 9 shows that Career College of Northern Nevada filed for bankruptcy on the day it unexpectedly closed. Students who were enrolled at the institution or were on an approved leave of absence on the 9th, or who withdrew from a training program within 180 days of the 9th, may qualify for a Closed School Discharge. Students who paid tuition fees without using U.S. Department of Education Student Financial Aid should contact the Nevada Commission of Postsecondary Education to file for reimbursement through the state's Tuition Recovery Fund.

Bankrupt Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA won court permission to investigate whether its rival Latam Airlines Group SA sought to take unfair advantage of its recent chapter 11 filing by improperly soliciting major Boeing Co. aircraft suppliers, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Martin Glenn said Monday there is merit in investigating allegations Latam tried to either poach or interfere with Boeing 737 aircraft lessors doing business with Gol after the Brazilian budget airline filed bankruptcy last month. Judge Glenn cited a letter Latam sent to aircraft lessors the day after Gol filed bankruptcy. A Latam lawyer said the Jan. 26 letter was the fist time in recent years the company had inquired about a type of narrowbody Boeing 737 aircraft flown by Gol. Latam has historically flown a fleet of Airbus aircraft, according to court documents. It would be “preposterous” to assume it was merely a coincidence Latam sent the letter immediately after Gol filed Chapter 11, Glenn said. In the letter, Latam said it was seeking more aircraft, which the airline said might be of interest to lessors “given the recent events in the industry.” Judge Glenn granted the Sao Paulo-based airline’s request to get documents and conduct depositions of Latam officials in order to gather evidence, should any exist, substantiating claims that Latam sought to interfere with Gol’s business or violate its chapter 11 stay, which protects companies in bankruptcy. Latam has denied the allegations and argued Gol is seeking such information to gain an unfair edge on its rival.