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Ascent Resources Marcellus Holdings, LLC, a division of the natural gas company owned by Energy Minerals Group, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, after reaching a deal with senior lenders on a sale or reorganization to preserve the business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The bankruptcy filing includes a pre-packaged turnaround plan that garnered enough support from creditors to move swiftly through court. Parent Ascent Resources LLC, the Appalachian oil-and-gas explorer founded by late oilman Aubrey McClendon, isn’t part of the bankruptcy filing. Ascent Marcellus tested the market for buyers last year, but agreed with major creditors to pursue a debt-for-equity swap under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection instead, court papers said. Voting has already begun on a reorganizing bankruptcy exit plan that Ascent believes will ease it out of chapter 11 around the middle of March with a slimmer balance sheet. Ascent Marcellus focuses on natural gas and oil properties in the Marcellus Shale, but reined in drilling in 2015 due to a decline in prices and its distressed financial condition, court papers say. The Marcellus unit has a sister business called Ascent Resources Utica Holdings LLC, which operates in the Utica Shale basin in Ohio. The companies share common ownership, but the Utica business isn’t part of the bankruptcy case. Ascent Marcellus lost $677 million in 2016 followed by a loss of $98 million last year.

Bon-Ton Stores Inc. won court approval to begin using its $725 million bankruptcy loan, giving the struggling retailer some leeway to operate its stores while under chapter 11 protection, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., yesterday signed off on the use of the bankruptcy loan provided by Bon-Ton’s prepetition lenders, which include Bank of America N.A. and Wells Fargo N.A. With the additional capital from its bankruptcy loan, Bon-Ton aims to stave off liquidation and find a buyer. The company does have plans to close stores, however. Last week Bon-Ton said it would be shuttering more than 40 of its 260 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. 

Drilling rig company Seadrill said in a court filing that it postponed an initial hearing on its restructuring plan to Feb. 26, buying more time to consider alternative plans, Reuters reported. Seadrill, one of the world’s largest offshore drilling rig operators, filed for bankruptcy in September after a steep drop in crude prices caused drastic cutbacks in oil company investment. The company, controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, had 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 drilling units and pay creditors and staff. It is the third time the company has postponed a hearing on its disclosure statement, which describes the restructuring plan and must be approved by the court before creditors can vote on the plan of reorganization. Tuesday’s bankruptcy court filing also said the deadline for objecting to Seadrill’s plan had been extended to Feb. 19 for the official committee of unsecured creditors, an ad hoc group of bondholders and Barclays Capital.

The developers of a 630-foot observation wheel planned for Staten Island have agreed to help pay for storage of some of the contraption’s giant parts while the project sits idle, according to court documents filed on Friday, Crain's New York Business reported. New York Wheel is hoping to create one of the hemisphere’s tallest observation wheels along the St. George waterfront on land owned by the city. The goal is to entice visitors to the borough’s north shore with views across the harbor and a new mall and entertainment complex next door. But a dispute with the wheel’s former contractor, Mammoet-Starneth, has ground the project to a halt and bled into a Delaware bankruptcy court. Mammoet-Starneth, which is seeking chapter 11 protection, said it must pay $700,000 a month to store the wheel’s parts at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. To cover those expenses and pay creditors, the firm is seeking to auction off parts of the wheel, including four legs it values at $9 million.

Cenveo Inc., one of the world’s largest envelope makers, filed for bankruptcy Friday, after reaching a deal with lenders that, if approved by a judge, would slash some $700 million from its balance sheet, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The printing company and several dozen affiliates sought chapter 11 protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., citing an unsustainable $1.4 billion debt load and a growing shift in consumer preferences toward digital products. Cenveo, which is publicly traded, entered into a restructuring agreement on Thursday with a majority of top-ranking lenders, who are set take control of the company. Court papers show Cenveo hopes to complete its restructuring and to emerge from bankruptcy within six months.

Bon-Ton Stores Inc., one of the largest regional department store chains in the U.S., sought bankruptcy protection yesterday as discussions with its debt holders have yet to come to a conclusion, MarketWatch.com reported. The Pennsylvania-based retailer filed for chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., in a bid to deal with a crushing debt load and declining sales. While under bankruptcy protection, Bon-Ton will explore strategic alternatives, including a sale of the company or certain assets as a part of the reorganization plan. The company, which owns 260 stores, has announced it would be closing 42 of its stores across the Northeast and Midwest. 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. 

Breitburn Energy Partners LP has received a $1.8 billion full cash offer from Lime Rock Resources, according to court papers filed on Friday, a surprise bid that could blow open the oil and gas producer’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, Reuters reported. A four-day bankruptcy confirmation hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan ended last month after a bitter valuation battle between Breitburn and its shareholders. Parties were awaiting a ruling from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein, who is overseeing the case, when Breitburn revealed in a letter to the judge that it had received the bid from Lime Rock, an oil basin acquirer and producer. Houston, Texas-based Lime Rock’s $1.8 billion stalking-horse offer tops a $1.6 billion enterprise valuation by Breitburn’s investment bank. The official committee of equity holders said that they believed Breitburn was worth $3.8 billion following a spike in oil prices since the company filed for bankruptcy in 2016.

The announcement of the closure of 182 Toys “R” Us stores last week — part of the retailer’s chapter 11 filing last fall — has put roughly $500 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) at risk, according to a report from Morningstar Credit Ratings, the Commercial Observer reported. Analysts at the rating agency identified 20 CMBS loans, with a combined balance of roughly $500 million, that could come under fire due to occupancy concerns following the closings. The report, issued on Tuesday, indicates that there are 40 CMBS loans — with a combined balance of $1.47 billion — that are exposed to the recent Toys “R” Us store closures. While 20 of those loans — with a combined balance of $500 million — are of concern due to occupancy issues following Toys “R” Us’ departure, the remaining 20 loans haven’t raised red flags due to the fact that Toys “R” Us doesn’t represent a large enough portion of each asset’s leasable space. 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. 

A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday delayed ruling on a motion that would open a 30-day bidding process for the purchase of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail, the paper reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Volk said that he and involved parties hadn’t had enough time to review a motion outlining the the procedures related to submitting bids and the actual sale of the newspaper during a hearing. The owners of the Gazette-Mail filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday. The 168-page motion outlining the bidding process was one of nine motions filed in the bankruptcy case of Charleston Newspapers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of West Virginia. Volk approved the other eight motions, most of which were to authorize owners of the paper to engage in financial transactions that would allow for regular operation of the newspaper during bankruptcy proceedings. The bankruptcy filing on Tuesday set off a 60-day countdown until new ownership could take over the operations of the newspaper.

The Boston Herald and most of its unions have struck a deal over the company’s contentious plan to dissolve labor contracts that had sparked an exchange of strike threats and dire warnings that the newspaper could be forced to close its doors for good, the Herald reported. The agreement filed yesterday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware cools tensions as the Communication Workers of America’s News Guild of Greater Boston — representing newsroom and commercial employees — agreed to back off its opposition to the newspaper’s plan to reject their collective bargaining agreements. The union, in return, won stipulations that any bidder for the paper in the Feb. 13 auction would have to honor the accrued paid time off and years of seniority for employees — union and non-union — who are offered jobs by the bidder, and also commit to offering jobs to at least 175 of the Herald’s current employees.