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Kansas City-based recycler Ripple Glass continues to operate while parent company Strategic Materials Inc. works to restructure $432 million of debt in bankruptcy court, the Kansas City Business Journal reported. Houston-based Strategic Materials (SMI) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 4 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to court filings, SMI received $23 million of debtor-in-possession financing from existing lenders that is being used to keep operations running at its subsidiaries, including Ripple Glass. Ripple Glass sold to SMI in September 2022 for an undisclosed amount, with plans to take the concept national. Ripple Glass was founded in 2009. Its processing plant at 1642 Crystal Ave. in Kansas City collects and grinds about 500,000 tons of glass a year into what's called cullet that is ready to be melted down and turned into new glass products. The recycled glass in Kansas City is used primarily to produce fiberglass insulation.

Anagram, Party City’s metallic-balloon supplier, has emerged from bankruptcy, following a sale of the business to the company’s bondholders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Anagram renewed its supply contract with party supplies retailer Party City last week, Party City and Anagram court filings show, resolving a threat that has been hanging over the supplier for months of potentially losing one of its biggest customers. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas last month approved the sale of Anagram to a group of the company’s bondholders, including Neuberger Berman, Littlejohn and Barings. Both Party City and its balloon-making subsidiary Anagram filed for bankruptcy in two separate cases last year. The two companies had separate boards and employees. Party City emerged from bankruptcy in October.

The Franciscan Friars of California, a Roman Catholic organization devoted to serving the poor, has filed for bankruptcy after facing nearly 100 lawsuits related to decades-old sex abuse claims, Reuters reported. The Oakland, Calif.-based organization said in a Tuesday statement that it was driven to bankruptcy by a change in California state law that allowed sex abuse survivors to file decades-old complaints that were otherwise time-barred under the state's statute of limitations. The Franciscan Friars of California joins a growing wave of Roman Catholic organizations that have filed for bankruptcy to address sex abuse lawsuits. Most of the 94 lawsuits filed against the Franciscan Friars were filed in California, where a 2019 law revived older sex abuse claims and led to the bankruptcies of the Catholic dioceses of San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa. All of the recent lawsuits against the Franciscan Friars of California are based on abuse that allegedly occurred at least 27 years ago, the group said in a Tuesday statement. Most of the friars accused of abuse are deceased, and the organization has long since cut ties with the six who are still alive, the group said.

Audacy is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after declining advertising revenue made the radio network unable to service its nearly $2 billion debt load, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Philadelphia-based Audacy has reached an agreement with its senior lenders for a prepackaged bankruptcy plan, the people said. The lenders will provide financing for the proceedings and are expected to own the company following the restructuring, they said. Audacy’s revenue has decreased while net losses have widened due to lower advertising spending in the radio sector. The company last year raised doubt over its ability to continue as a going concern. It said its current revenue forecasts for 2024 indicated it will have difficulty satisfying its debt obligations. In October, Audacy missed interest payments on its senior loans and obtained consent from its lenders to provide a grace period as they worked on restructuring negotiations. Audacy operates hundreds of radio stations that broadcast music, news, and sports, and provides streaming services through its mobile app. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications, the company merged with CBS Radio in 2017. It operated as Radio.com following the CBS merger before rebranding as Audacy in 2021.

A continuing care retirement community (CCRC) with a history of financial woes is slated to change hands, with senior living company LCS poised to buy it, SeniorHousingNews.com reported. The community, known as Harborside and previously Amsterdam at Harborside, in March filed for bankruptcy for the third time in nine years, with LCS winning a five-day auction worth $63 million for the community last fall, according to court records and an article published by Newsday.com. A judge approved the sale on Dec. 27, U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip court records indicate. But the community’s debt holder, Kansas City based-UMB Bank, has appealed the ruling that approved the transaction to LCS.

Two of Juul Labs’ longtime directors — a Hyatt Hotels heir and a venture capitalist — helped bail out the e-cigarette maker when it was on the brink of insolvency, the Wall Street Journal reported. It was a deal that preserved the equity investments of Nick Pritzker and Riaz Valani, cemented their influence over the company and secured them releases from liability in thousands of lawsuits against Juul. Now Juul is fighting a lawsuit from a group of investors alleging that those two directors were looking out for their own interests, not the company’s. Among the questions in dispute is whether the bailout that allowed Juul to avert bankruptcy in 2022 benefited insiders at the expense of other investors. The allegations have come to light as the company is trying to raise new capital, become profitable for the first time and turn the page after a turbulent year-and-a-half. Juul says that it delegated decisions to independent directors and that it secured needed financing from investors who support the company’s mission of offering adult cigarette smokers a less-harmful alternative. Juul was once a vaping juggernaut and one of the most valuable startups in America. Tobacco giant Altria Group in 2018 invested $12.8 billion in Juul. Juul used nearly all of the cash from Altria’s investment to fund employee bonuses and shareholder dividends, including more than $2 billion to Valani and more than $1 billion to Pritzker. Since then, Juul has been beset by thousands of lawsuits over its marketing practices and embroiled in a dispute with federal regulators over whether its e-cigarettes can be sold in the U.S. Juul has denied allegations that it marketed its e-cigarettes to children and teens.

South Jersey craft beer stalwart Flying Fish Brewing Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection just months after a deal fell through that would have seen the brand sold to Cape May Brewing Co., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The Somerdale, N.J.-based Flying Fish listed $1.3 million in assets and $9.3 million in liabilities in its chapter 11 petition, which was filed on Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. The company is owned by Elk Lake Capital, a capital investment firm in Scranton that acquired Flying Fish in 2016. Elk Lake Capital is also listed in the bankruptcy filing as Flying Fish’s biggest creditor, with unsecured claims of about $4.2 million. Celtic Capital Corp., a financial services firm in Calabasas, Calif., has nearly $4.1 million in unsecured claims with Flying Fish, according to the filing. Overall, the company listed $1.3 million in assets, about $500,000 coming from brewing machinery and equipment. It claimed more than $9.2 million in liabilities.

Consumer data company Near Intelligence Inc. has filed for chapter 11 protection less than a year after going public, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company will sell nearly all of its assets to credit institution Blue Torch Finance LP and plans to continue normal operations through the bankruptcy proceedings. Near went public in March via a business combination with special acquisition company KludeIn I Acquisition Corp., a deal that was based on Near’s pre-money enterprise valuation of $575 million at the time. The company later received notice in mid-November that, as a result of failing to file its third-quarter financial report in a timely manner, it was not in compliance with the Nasdaq’s listing rules. It was officially suspended from trading on the Nasdaq on Dec. 27 and is now trading on OTC Markets Group under the ticker “NIRLQ.” Its stock closed on Thursday at less than 1 cent a share. Near was founded by former chief executive Anil Mathews in 2012 and uses a combination of consumer data and artificial intelligence to provide partnering businesses with insights into consumer behavior and trends. Mathews told the Business Journal in April that about 87% of its income is recurring and comes from licensing its products. However, Near stated in its chapter 11 filing that it had struggled in recent years to raise sufficient capital to cover operational costs and that recent enactment of stricter data-privacy regulations have changed the industry and made it increasingly difficult for data-intelligence providers to gather information. The company accrued approximately $100 million in net losses in 2022.

JER Investors Trust Inc., a mortgage REIT, filed for bankruptcy in the latest sign of distress in commercial real estate, Bloomberg News reported. The real estate investment trust — which counts private equity firm C-III Capital Partners among its top shareholders — owes more than $100 million to creditors, but has less than $50 million in assets, according to a chapter 11 petition filed in Wilmington, Del., on Friday. JER Investors manages a portfolio of mortgage backed securities and other types of debt tied to the commercial real estate market, according to the company’s website. As interest rates climbed this year, commercial properties came under pressure, especially firms that lost tenants during the pandemic as office-tower workers stayed home. Earlier this month, mall owner Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust filed for bankruptcy for the second time in three years. In November, the coworking behemoth WeWork Inc. filed for bankruptcy with plans to cut back a sprawling real estate portfolio that spanned 39 countries. C-III Capital owns at least 8.4% of JER Investors, according to court papers. JER also owes C-III nearly $20 million, the bankruptcy filing shows. The Bank of New York Mellon Trust is owed $93.9 million, according to the chapter 11 petition.