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YPF’s Passaic River Cleanup Dispute With Maxus Resumes in Bankruptcy Court

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Argentine energy company YPF SA and a trust for its former subsidiary Maxus Energy Corp. on Monday resumed their longstanding dispute over who should pay as much as $14 billion to clean up the contaminated Passaic River in New Jersey, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lawyers representing both parties argued before Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., over whether parent company YPF can be shielded from the multibillion-dollar liability by putting its subsidiary in bankruptcy. YPF placed Maxus in bankruptcy in 2016, leaving it with the liability related to the contamination of the river. In 2018, the trust in charge of Maxus’s liquidation sued YPF for stripping away most of Maxus’s international assets. In 2019, the lawsuit was allowed to move forward by Judge Sontchi, who presided over Maxus’s 2016 bankruptcy case, after YPF asked for the case to be dismissed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that 100 or so other companies might share responsibility for polluting the Passaic with byproducts from the manufacture of paints, pesticides and other chemical products. On Monday, the trust in charge of liquidating the assets of Maxus argued that YPF had stripped valuable assets from the oil-and-gas subsidiary, leaving it with the gigantic bill to clean up the river.

Judge Approves $10 Million in Financing for Edgemere, Comes Down on Landlord

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Edgemere, the Dallas luxury retirement home that filed for bankruptcy in mid-April, will be permitted to tap $10.1 million in financing to carry it through the end of the year as it reorganizes under court supervision, the Dallas Morning News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle Larson last week approved the emergency funding request from the operators of the 504-unit community that allows seniors to age into different levels of care without moving, according to court documents. The judge also ruled that Edgemere doesn’t need to make immediate rent payments to its landlord, InterCity Investments, but must set aside those funds in an escrow account to prove it has the money. Judge Larson said that Edgemere seems to have a genuine interest “to ensure liquidity and success during the reorganization.” Edgemere lost $30 million in 2021 partly due to falling occupancy rates. Its bankruptcy filing said its assets and liabilities are both between $100 million and $500 million, and its creditors total as many as 5,000, including families whose relatives paid hefty deposits to move into Edgemere. The judge was well aware that the relationship between the retirement home and its landlord has soured. The landlord is upset that Edgemere has gotten itself into financial trouble, due to increased competition in the area, large capital expenses and the COVID-19 impact on move-ins. Edgemere defaulted on rent payments starting last fall before bondholders saved it by paying the rent it had missed. Edgemere is also upset with the landlord, which it has accused of trying to take over the land along with private equity firm Kong Capital.

LATAM Airlines Seeks Bankruptcy Court Approval for $2.75 Billion in Exit Loans

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LATAM Airlines Group SA, the largest air transport group in Latin America, yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $2.75 billion in new loans to fund the company's exit from chapter 11, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Garrity in Manhattan will review the request during a court hearing on June 23. LATAM, which has operating units in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, says it has commitments for $2.75 billion in loans from JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, Barclays Bank Plc, BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Securities Corp and Natixis, with an additional $1.17 billion agreement to refinance and extend its existing bankruptcy loan. "This commitment secures us the full amount of financing required to complete our restructuring plan and, very importantly, with a degree of flexibility that allows us to optimize existing market conditions," LATAM Airlines Chief Executive Roberto Alvo said in a press release on Saturday. In addition to the judge approving the exit loans, LATAM is awaiting Judge Garrity's decision on whether to approve its overall restructuring plan. LATAM needs to secure its exit loans before emerging from bankruptcy and continuing to raise funds through a post-bankruptcy $800 million equity offering, according to court documents.

Purdue Creditors Push Plan to Give CEO’s Bonus to Opioid Victims

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States opposed to a proposed $3 million bonus for the CEO of bankrupt Purdue Pharma L.P. should “move on” and support a proposal to donate the funds to a nonprofit that helps opioid victims, unsecured creditors say, Bloomberg Law reported. The unsecured creditors' committee said in a filing yesterday that it’s “not pleased” that CEO Craig Landau remains in his position, nor does it support paying him the proposed bonus, as the opioid-maker wants. But the New York bankruptcy court has, in previous years, approved similar proposals by Purdue , the committee noted. And the current proposal allows parties to try to claw back payments made to Landau if it’s found that he knowingly participated in any criminal misconduct in connection to Purdue or other activities, it said. “While not a perfect solution, this provision balances the debtors’ desire to compensate their employees with concerns regarding such employees’ potential responsibility for the debtors’ role in the opioid crisis,” the committee said. No party has shown that Landau engaged in conduct that warrants disgorgement of the money, the committee said. Instead, it suggested the states join its request for Landau or Purdue to donate some or all of the bonus to a nonprofit that fights the opioid crisis.

Cosmetics Maker Revlon Nears Chapter 11 Filing

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Revlon Inc. is preparing to file for chapter 11 protection as soon as next week after struggling for years with too much debt, stiff competition in the cosmetics business and more recent inflation and supply-chain pressures, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The cosmetics maker, owned by billionaire Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes, has been in restructuring talks with top-ranking lenders ahead of debt maturities that begin next year. A bankruptcy filing could end Mr. Perelman’s control of Revlon, which his private-equity firm bought in 1985. The situation is fluid and a chapter 11 filing isn’t certain, a person familiar with the matter said. Revlon shares dropped 53% on Friday to $2.05 a share. Sales rebounded by 8% in the latest quarter as consumer shopping habits returned closer to pre-pandemic levels. But the company’s outlook is still challenged by its need to raise capital for liquidity needs, according to an April report by S&P Global Ratings. Reorg Research earlier reported that Revlon was planning to file for bankruptcy. The company’s nearest upcoming debt maturity is in September 2023 and involves an $866 million loan that was paid off by accident in 2020 by administrative agent Citigroup Inc. with its own money rather than Revlon’s. Some lenders gave the money back to Citi, but others kept roughly $500 million of the accidental payment.

Infowars Bankruptcy Tossed in Deal with Sandy Hook Parents

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A federal judge in Texas on Friday dismissed the bankruptcy protection case of Infowars and two other companies controlled by Alex Jones, the result of an agreement between lawyers for the conspiracy theorist and parents of some of the children slain in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Associated Press reported. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved the deal after a brief court hearing. The judge’s action allows the parents’ defamation lawsuits against Jones to continue in Texas and Connecticut, where trials are pending on how much he should pay families after judges in both states found Jones and his companies liable for damages. The families' lawsuits say they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones’ followers because of the hoax conspiracy. Jones, based in Austin, Texas, has since said he believes the shooting did occur. Relatives of eight of the 20 first graders and six educators killed in the massacre and an FBI agent who responded to the school in Newtown, Connecticut, are suing Jones and Free Speech Systems. Infowars, Prison Planet TV and IW Health consented to dismissing the bankruptcy case last week after the families agreed to drop the three companies from their defamation lawsuits. Those lawsuits will continue against Jones himself and his largest moneymaking company, Free Speech Systems.

Chemical Maker TPC Says Cerberus, Bayside Bond Lawsuit Falls Short

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Chemical maker TPC Group Inc. asked a bankruptcy court to find that investment firms Cerberus Capital Management LP and Bayside Capital Inc. can’t pursue litigation against the claims of other bondholders, saying that a combined 10% stake in a $930 million bond is too small to give the minority holders the right to sue, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. TPC asked to throw out a lawsuit alleging that roughly $205 million in bonds held by other company investors doesn’t deserve to rank senior to Bayside and Cerberus, dissenting bondholders owning roughly $90 million in 10.5% bonds issued in 2019. TPC in 2021 and 2022 issued roughly $205 million in bonds with priority over the 2019 debt, backed by creditors holding more than two-thirds of the earlier debt, court papers show. The Houston-based company filed for bankruptcy earlier this month with a restructuring agreement backed by most bondholders but not by Cerberus and Bayside. Cerberus and Bayside sued TPC shortly after its bankruptcy filing, arguing the company breached its debt agreements by layering new debt on top of Cerberus and Bayside without the consent of every bondholder whose rights would be affected. Cerberus and Bayside said they “were not even informed of the transaction until after it was consummated.” Now, creditors holding majorities of both tranches of notes are being enriched, according to the complaint.

EV Maker Electric Last Mile Solutions Files for Bankruptcy

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U.S. commercial electric vehicle maker Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc (ELMS) said on Sunday it is planning to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy, after a review of its products and commercialization plans, Reuters reported. The move comes after the Troy, Mich.-based company disclosed a probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and withdrew all its previously issued business outlook in March. ELMS had said that the SEC was investigating matters discussed in prior filings including disagreements with an accounting firm and compliance with the Nasdaq's listing rules. In February, the then Chief Executive Officer Jim Taylor and Chairman and founder Jason Luo resigned, following an investigation into their share purchases. "The compound effect of these events, along with a pending SEC investigation initiated this year, made it extremely challenging to secure a new auditor and attract additional funding," ELMS said in a statement on Sunday. The EV maker previously laid off about 24% of its staff as it focussed on its core business. The company went public in June 2021 through a merger with blank-check firm Forum Merger III Corp.

Panthers Owner’s Companies Sued by York County Over Practice Facility

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South Carolina’s York County is suing Panthers owner David Tepper’s companies and the City of Rock Hill for at least $21 million over the failed completion of the team’s proposed $800 million practice facility and headquarters, the Associated Press reported. The structure remains half-built in Rock Hill, S.C., with no plans of being finished. Tepper’s real estate company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on June 2 after having invested more than $175 million into the facility. It is located about 25 miles south of the team’s current downtown stadium and headquarters in Charlotte. Among Tepper’s companies named in the lawsuit are DT Sports Holding, LLC, Appaloosa Management LP and Tepper Sports Holding, Inc. York County officials say the purpose of the lawsuit is to protect the county and its taxpayers and recover damages caused by these defendants. The complaint filed Thursday said Tepper and his companies took $21 million from a special penny sales tax intended to expand a road in York County and used the money for what the county’s lawyers called a “failed vanity project.”

New Jersey Real-Estate Firm Facing Federal Probe Files for Bankruptcy

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A New Jersey-based real-estate investment firm filed for bankruptcy, under investigation by federal and state authorities following the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s arrest of an executive adviser last year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. National Realty Investment Advisors LLC and more than 100 affiliates filed for chapter 11 on Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J., with the goal of preventing a “disorderly liquidation” of an estimated $225 million portfolio of investment properties located across four Eastern states. The firm has been steered by independent manager Brian Casey since late April following the arrest of an NRIA contractor last year and the resignation of its longtime chief executive. Based in Secaucus, N.J., NRIA has developed and managed residential and mixed-use development projects across the East Coast for more than a decade, raising money from thousands of individual investors who learned of the opportunity through the company’s advertisements on the radio and on television. In court papers filed Wednesday, Mr. Casey said that NRIA’s real-estate assets in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania are expected to provide “a substantial, if not full, recovery” to roughly 2,000 investors holding around $540 million in preferred shares. NRIA enters chapter 11 under investigation by federal prosecutors in New Jersey as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and securities regulators in New Jersey, Illinois and Alabama, Mr. Casey said.