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The Boy Scouts of America remains slightly short of the votes it sought from sex abuse victims for a $2.7 billion settlement that aims to resolve accusations spanning decades, but says that it is still working to obtain more support for the deal that would allow it to emerge from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. BSA, which filed for chapter 11 protection in February 2020 facing widespread accusations that troop leaders sexually abused Scouts, said 73.57% of victims' votes were in favor of the plan, according to court papers filed on Tuesday. The count failed to meet the 75% threshold BSA had set as a target but exceeded the minimum required under bankruptcy law, meaning the organization could potentially still persuade a judge to approve the settlement. That figure represents less than a 0.5% increase from a preliminary count released earlier this month. But, thousands of ballots were not counted due to various defects, according to Tuesday's filing. Meanwhile, mediation between BSA and opponents of the plan is ongoing. Survivors can change their votes until a Feb. 22 hearing on the deal before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Delaware, who must sign off on the deal. The settlement, which is central to BSA's proposed reorganization plan, has divided survivors. Those that remain opposed argue that the offer is far too low. Local councils, insurers, and organizations that chartered Scouting units and activities agreed to pay a combined $2.7 billion to resolve more than 82,000 abuse claims.

The bankruptcy auction for one of the largest mansions in the United States was pushed back three weeks to allow more time to attract potential purchasers of the home, which has a $295 million asking price, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Deborah J. Saltzman granted an extension of the auction for the Los Angeles home known as “The One” last week after a number of would-be buyers needed more time to visit the property, according to court papers filed Friday and attorney David Golubchik of Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik, who is representing the property’s developer. The online bankruptcy auction is now scheduled for Feb. 28 to March 3, and the transaction’s closing, which is subject to court approval, is set for March 21. The no-reserve auction of “The One” was originally slated to occur the second week of February with a final closing date of Feb. 28. Creditors Yogi Securities Holdings and Inferno Investment Inc. filed objections to the plans earlier this month.

Restructuring officers of bankrupt New York property developer All Year Holdings Ltd. proposed a settlement Friday to address a dispute with a major investor by selling eight properties from the company’s Brooklyn real-estate portfolio, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The proposed settlement filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan would resolve claims by investor Gary Katz and his Downtown Capital Partners that All Year owed him as much as $100 million on preferred equity instruments he holds. All Year has said it owes Mr. Katz about $57 million. As repayment, the company has offered to transfer managerial control of a corporate affiliate, All Year Equity Partners, to Mr. Katz, who could then sell its eight apartment buildings within five years. Mr. Katz would get the bulk of the proceeds. All Year could receive about $5 million down the line, according to court papers. Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York is expected to hold a hearing on the settlement proposal in late January. All Year, owned by developer Yoel Goldman, filed for chapter 11 last month to protect itself from potential litigation in the U.S. and Israel while continuing negotiations with creditors owed nearly $1.6 billion in debt, made up of about $800 million in bonds issued on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and $760 million in mortgage loans.

Moby SpA, the ferry company that connects Italy’s mainland with its islands, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. as it seeks to complete a troubled restructuring process at home, Bloomberg News reported. Moby, owned by the Onorato family, has been under pressure from increasing regulation, tougher competition and weak freight traffic volumes in the last years, and was further hit by the pandemic travel restrictions. In June 2020, the company petitioned a court in Milan for a court-supervised restructuring procedure, but its revenue grew above expectations this summer. The company reached a non-binding restructuring deal with a group representing more than a third of bondholders on Sept. 24, but needs a majority of them to support it at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 20. As part of the plan, the group could provide new financing. In November, a Milan Court ordered the seizure of 20 million euros ($22.8 million) of assets of Moby’s parent company, Onorato Armatori Srl, at the request of Tirrenia di Navigazione SpA, an insolvent company whose assets were bought by beleaguered Moby in 2011. The Onorato Group said at the time that the seizure order would be appealed. Moby’s 300 million euros of bonds were indicated at 76 cents on the euro on Jan. 14, up from a record low of 28 cents reached in April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Escada America LLC filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles on Tuesday, marking the latest leg in the brand’s financial struggles, WWD reported. The initial filing in federal bankruptcy court gave only the barest details of the division’s situation. The company estimated it owed $1 million to $10 million to a total of 100 to 199 creditors. It also listed assets of $1 million to $10 million. Many of the business’ largest debts were for rent and were listed as disputed. The top three creditors were all due rent and included 717 GFC in New York, which is owed $5.1 million; the Beverly Hills Wilshire Hotel, $2.5 million, and Samson Management Corp. in Queens, $1.3 million. The Mittal family sold the broader Escada business to Beverly Hills-based private equity firm Regent in late 2019. But the acquisition quickly ran headlong into the worst of the pandemic, which brought a massive disruption to fashion and a wave of bankruptcies. WWD reported in June 12 that the brand was struggling with some of its North American stores taken over by landlords and its corporate headcount reduced.

BH Cosmetics, which recently created makeup lines with Doja Cat and Iggy Azalea, has filed for bankruptcy, WWD reported. The cosmetics brand filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Wilmington, Del., on Jan. 14, with plans to sell its intellectual property for $4.3 million. BH sold its products online, as well as through Ulta Beauty and other retailers. BH said in court papers that it hired Hilco Streambank and has signed a purchase agreement with RBI Acquisition Holdings LLC as the stalking-horse bidder for the assets. A pre-petition sale attempt, where the company hired a banker to sell itself starting in September, did not work out, the company wrote in court papers.

Eagle Senior Living, a nonprofit operator of 15 facilities in seven states, has filed for bankruptcy to restructure its roughly $235 million in municipal bond debt, the latest continuing-care community to seek protection from creditors during a pandemic that has increased labor costs, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based business filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., with plans to reduce its debt by $40 million and transfer and possibly sell certain facilities to new operators. Eagle Senior said that it was having financial trouble before the pandemic but is the latest senior-care business to come under increasing financial pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to make debt service payments. Occupancy rates have declined to roughly 81% from more than 90% before the pandemic, Todd Topliff, president of parent American Eagle Delaware Holding Co., said in a sworn declaration. Meanwhile, staffing costs have risen because of outbreak-related hazard payments and overtime, sign-on bonuses and wage increases to make up for “unprecedented” labor shortages across Eagle Senior’s facilities, he said. The business said it had to turn to staffing agencies to supplement its workforce, and continues to combat labor shortages it attributed to vaccine mandates and competition from other industries for workers. Costs also piled up for personal protective equipment, as well as food containers so meals could be personally delivered to residents’ rooms instead of eating in a dining room, Mr. Topliff said in court papers. Supply shortages of various products also added to costs. The business has been operating under several forbearance agreements. The business operates in Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida and has a total of 1,000 residents. It has 362 independent living apartments, 641 assisted living units, and 192 memory care units. COVID-19’s rapid spread through eldercare facilities, along with the pandemic’s lockdowns, have deterred many older Americans from moving into senior communities. Nearly 8% of the $41 billion in outstanding senior-living bonds are in default as of December, according to Municipal Market Analytics, the most since tracking began in 2009. The sector now accounts for almost one-quarter of defaulted debt in the muni market, not including bonds caught up in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy.

Mexican carrier Aeromexico said on Monday that its shareholders have approved a capital increase as part of its restructuring plan to emerge from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In two meetings held on Friday, shareholders agreed to hike the share capital by $4.267 billion, which is subject to a third party making a public tender offer of its current shares. The increase will come from the issuance of some 682 trillion common shares, which will be paid for through a $3.44 billion debt capitalization and an $828 million injection. Aeromexico's biggest creditor in its U.S. chapter 11 case, Apollo Global Management, will swap its debt into equity as part of the reorganization, becoming the airline's largest stakeholder. Delta Air Lines Inc, which had controlled a majority of Aeromexico before the bankruptcy, will hold roughly a fifth of its stock coming out of bankruptcy. Aeromexico has 682.1 million shares in circulation. Existing equity shareholders will see their stakes essentially wiped out. Aeromexico also said shareholders had agreed to issue another 68.2 trillion shares, which will remain in the company's treasury.

A federal judge in Virginia rejected a debt-repayment plan for the former owner of Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and other retail brands, voiding the broad legal protections bestowed on its former top executives and adding to the growing backlash against such liability releases, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge David Novak of the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., ruled on an appeal Thursday that a bankruptcy court lacked constitutional authority to approve legal releases in the chapter 11 plan of Ascena Retail Group Inc. that would have extinguished shareholders’ legal claims over actions management took before the company went bankrupt in 2020. The breadth of legal protection for the former Ascena executives “can only be described as shocking,” Judge Novak said. The proposed liability release, he said, would have extinguished not just a pending shareholder lawsuit but “every conceivable claim — both federal and state claims for an unspecified time period stretching back to time immemorial.” The ruling marks the second time in two months that a federal judge has rejected the use of legal releases that shut down creditors’ claims against third parties to a bankruptcy case. Third-party releases have become increasingly common in chapter 11 but are facing greater scrutiny beyond the nation’s bankruptcy courts. In December, a federal judge in Manhattan voided similar releases covering the wealthy owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, using reasoning similar to Judge Novak’s. Purdue has filed an appeal seeking to reinstate its owners’ releases, an integral part of its planned emergence from chapter 11.