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Walter Investment Management Corp. announced on Friday that it successfully completed its financial restructuring plan, which eliminated $800 million in debt, and emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, HousingWire.com reported. With the bankruptcy now in the rearview mirror, Walter Investment is changing its name to Ditech Holding Corp., adopting the name of its prominent subsidiary Ditech Financial. Last week, Walter disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it planned to change its name to Ditech Holding Corp. upon its exit from bankruptcy. Back in December, Walter filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a pre-packaged restructuring plan to cut its debt by $800 million.

Rig firm Seadrill, which last year filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court, is working towards a comprehensive deal with all its creditors that could be concluded this week, it said in a court filing late on Friday, Reuters reported. Once the largest drilling rig operator by market value, Oslo-listed Seadrill filed its bankruptcy case in Texas on Sept. 12 after being hit hard by cutbacks in oil company investment following a steep drop in crude prices. The company, controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, has been working with creditors on a restructuring plan to bring in more than $1 billion in fresh funding, allow it to maintain its fleet of rigs and pay creditors and staff. “Although not all issues are resolved at this time, discussions have coalesced around a settlement structure that, if implemented, will increase recoveries to all general unsecured creditors,” the firm said in the filing.

Struggling retailer Toys “R” Us Inc. is seeking bankruptcy court approval to close two stores badly damaged by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, after reaching settlements with landlords of the properties, while repairing three other locations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Toys “R” Us has been assessing the damage done to its five stores in Puerto Rico, which were affected by the hurricane shortly after the company sought chapter 11 protection in mid-September. The retailer decided to repair and continue operating three of its stores, and would reject the unexpired leases for two of the stores that would see the costs outweigh the value of repairs, according to court papers filed on Thursday. Toys “R” Us estimated that it would collectively cost about $4.3 million to repair both of the locations, which would take an estimated year for both of the stores.

U.S. teen retailer rue21 Inc. is seeking financing after lackluster holiday sales failed to generate the cash it had hoped for, Reuters reported. The move makes rue21 the latest U.S. brick-and-mortar retailer to have emerged from bankruptcy with its debt pile reduced only to end up struggling financially again, as shoppers shift much of their spending online and consumer tastes change rapidly. The retailer, known for its low-priced fashion-forward apparel for young men and women, has hired investment bank Piper Jaffray Companies to help raise funds, the sources said. The size of the loan rue21 is seeking could not be learned. Warrendale, Pa.-based rue21 is one of more than 15 retailers that filed for bankruptcy last year and was forced to close around 400 of its approximately 1,100 stores. Read more.

Occupancy issues are at the heart of many significant retail cases, as detailed in the forthcoming ABI publication Retail and office Bankruptcy: Landlord/Tenant Rights, available for pre-order at the ABI Store. 

Takata Corp.’s U.S. operations, pushed into bankruptcy by the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, settled with two groups representing victims of its faulty air bags, Bloomberg News reported. Two committees for people suing over the air bags have agreed to support a bankruptcy-exit plan that would resolve lawsuits by channeling them into a trust funded in part by the sale of Takata assets. Takata has recalled millions of air bags that had been linked to deaths in the U.S. Defective air bags can explode in car crashes, sending metal shards flying. Japan-based Takata entered a guilty plea last year as part of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over the air-bag problems. On Tuesday, the company is scheduled to seek final approval of its reorganization plan, which is built on a sale and setting up a trust to handle air-bag claims. The two groups representing the air-bag plaintiffs have agreed to drop their opposition to the plan, according to court documents.

U.S. shale driller Ascent Resources Marcellus Holdings LLC, which filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, expects to exit bankruptcy by March 31 under the new ownership of its lenders, lawyers for the company and its lenders said in court yesterday, Reuters reported. The bankruptcy petition by Ascent, one of the companies founded by late U.S. oilman Aubrey McClendon after he left Chesapeake Energy Corp, followed two years of negotiations with lenders to work out a reorganization plan, the lawyers said. Dozens of North American oil and gas producers began filing for chapter 11 protection in 2015 after a plunge in commodity prices. Even though prices have since recovered, Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Ascent said in court papers that its revenue and production volume still failed to cover expenses and contract commitments.

Castex Energy Partners LP, a Houston-based oil-and-natural-gas driller, is pushing back at a hedge fund’s bid to characterize its holdings of preferred units in a Castex partnership as a creditor claim rather than equity, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In a filing on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Castex’s lawyers said OHA Asset Holdings II, a fund dubbed OHAI and managed by Oak Hill Advisors, holds an equity security interest and not a claim. At issue is the hedge fund’s purchase of $50 million in redeemable preferred units in a Castex partnership, which paid the fund a fixed rate of return and included a put right obligating the partnership to buy back OHAI’s equity investment at a certain date. Castex’s lawyers say the fund’s right to redeem the preferred units — even if exercised — are equity interests because they aren’t guaranteed the right to payment, as claims are, but rather are dependent on the solvency of the company.

The operator of casual Italian dining chain Romano’s Macaroni Grill won approval to move forward with its reorganization plan, which will see many of its locations and jobs saved, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath on Wednesday signed off on the plan, about four months after the company, Mac Acquisition LLC, sought chapter 11 protection. The plan will allow many of the chain’s restaurants to remain open, as well as save roughly 4,600 jobs. In 2017, Macaroni Grill closed 37 unprofitable locations. In total, Macaroni Grill had about 93 restaurants in 23 states.

Remington Outdoor Company Inc., one of the largest U.S. makers of firearms, has reached out to banks and credit investment funds in search of financing that will allow it to file for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The move comes as Remington reached a forbearance agreement with its creditors this week following a missed coupon payment on its debt, the sources said. The company has been working with investment bank Lazard Ltd. on options to restructure its $950 million debt pile, Reuters reported last month. Remington is seeking debtor-in-possession financing that will allow it to fund is operations once it files for bankruptcy. Some potential financing sources, including credit funds and banks, have balked at coming to Remington’s aid because of the reputation risk associated with such a move. Remington, which is controlled by buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, was abandoned by some of Cerberus’ private equity fund investors after one of its Bushmaster rifles was used in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut in 2012 that killed 20 children and six adults.

The judge overseeing the Pittsburgh Athletic Association’s bankruptcy case has given the club more time to resolve objections to its proposed reorganization plan, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The U.S. government filed an objection late last week, saying the plan does not account for an estimated $2 million in taxes the PAA likely will owe on the planned sale of its iconic clubhouse in Oakland. The $11.9 million sale to Walnut Capital is the centerpiece of the reorganization plan, which calls for using the proceeds to repay all creditors in full. “We recognize the IRS has a claim,” the PAA’s bankruptcy attorney, Jordan Blask of Tucker Arensberg, told Judge Jeffrey A. Deller during a status conference yesterday. “We’ve spoken to stakeholders with respect to assisting us” in setting aside a reserve to pay the taxes, Blask said, adding that he expects the tax bill to be reduced substantially once the final figures are worked out.