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Penthouse Global Media Inc., an offshoot of the iconic adult entertainment brand that began with Bob Guccione’s Penthouse Magazine in 1965, is taking the business on a third trip through bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. A chapter 11 filing on Thursday kicks off another restructuring for the empire that grew out of a U.K. men’s magazine born in the counterculture of the 1960s. The brand’s current, Los Angeles-based owner is run by Kelly Holland, a woman and self-described political progressive, who bought the name in 2016, saying that she wanted to remove any misogynistic content and expand licensing. In an L.A. Times interview, she described potential plans, including "breastaurants" to compete with Hooters Inc. The filing includes publishing, licensing, broadcasting and digital affiliates. Two prior bankruptcies showed how technological disruption in the media industry has ensnared but never snuffed out the brand.

Struggling retailer Bon-Ton Stores Inc. is continuing discussions with its debtholders as it prepares for a likely bankruptcy filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company is working on signing a forbearance agreement with its bondholders through the end of January. There is the possibility the forbearance agreement could be extended beyond late January, though a bankruptcy filing is expected as soon as February, according to sources. The company has been trying to persuade bondholders that there are private-equity firms who are willing to put in capital to save the company, the sources said. Law firm Paul Weiss has reportedly been hired to advise the company, which had disclosed last year that it hired advisers AlixPartners LLP and PJT Partners Inc. as it grapples with its $987 million debt load.

A handful of Illinois-based nursing homes sued the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services on Friday, saying low Medicaid rates are jeopardizing their ability to provide adequate quality of care, Reuters reported. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, five groups that jointly operate more than 100 skilled nursing facilities across the state said Illinois’ reimbursement rates and methodologies violated certain requirements under the Medicaid Act. An impasse between Illinois’ Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature left the state without a complete budget for an unprecedented two fiscal years. Lawmakers enacted a fiscal 2018 budget in July, but the state still has a $9.1 billion backlog of unpaid bills to vendors and service providers. CC Care, a Chicago-based skilled nursing home operator, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, saying in court papers that slow, erratic and low Medicaid payments were having a “disastrous effect” on all nursing homes in the state.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday urged a federal judge to appoint a trustee to manage the Woodbridge Group of Companies, a bankrupt property developer the regulator accused of being a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, Reuters reported. The regulator has said investors are owed more than $961 million, and has alleged the company’s owner, Robert Shapiro, used at least $21 million for private jets, luxury cars, wine and political donations. Shapiro has denied the allegations. Larry Perkins, who was hired as a chief restructuring officer in October, said that the company is investigating the allegations.

San Antonio-based women’s apparel and accessories retailer A’Gaci filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, seeking to reorganize its $62 million in debt amid poor financial performance on a failed expansion, hurricanes and other troubles, the San Antonio Express-News reported. A’Gaci is seeking bankruptcy court approval to close 49 of its 78 stores, a bankruptcy court filing shows. Twenty-one of its 34 stores in Texas are on the closure list. David Won, A’Gaci’s chief merchandising officer, couched the store closings by saying that some could remain open if it’s able to negotiate more favorable lease terms and rent reductions from landlords.

U.S. surfwear retailer Boardriders Inc. will use $600 million of loans to back its purchase of Australian peer Billabong International Ltd, Reuters reported. The acquisition, announced on January 4, comes roughly two years after California-based Boardriders — formerly known as Quiksilver — emerged from a five-month stint in bankruptcy court precipitated by competition and operational issues that plagued performance. The designer and distributor of brands including Quiksilver, Roxy and DC Shoes filed for chapter 11 protection in September 2015 and transferred control to U.S. private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management, its largest debtholder, as part of the restructuring process. The investment firm currently holds 19 percent of Billabong, owner of the eponymous brand as well as RVCA, Element, VonZipper and Xcel. 

Hobbico Inc., a distributor of radio-controlled cars, boats, planes and model toys, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday in Delaware, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The employee-owned company, which filed along with a handful of affiliates, listed estimated assets of between $10 million and $50 million and estimated liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in a chapter 11 petition filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington. Headquartered in Champaign, Ill., Hobbico says on its website that it is the largest distributor of radio-controlled and general products for hobbyists in the U.S., and it counts among its customers Walmart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Toys “R” Us Inc. Toys “R” Us itself filed for chapter 11 protection in September. One of Hobbico’s subsidiaries, Tower Hobbies, also sells products directly to customers on its website and through a mail-order catalog.

Billionaires Paul Singer and Donald Sussman took a run this week at the quiet, powerful fee committee that has blessed hundreds of millions of dollars of spending in Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s bankruptcy, according to a WSJ Pro Bankruptcy commentary. With hundreds of millions more in legal and adviser bills expected to arrive before the big bankruptcy wraps up, Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. and Sussman’s Paloma Partners Management Co. said that it is time for the fee-review panel to open up its books to some fresh eyes. The result was a mixed victory, according to the commentary. Judge Christopher Sontchi agreed that creditors need an active, paid representative on the committee. He disagreed that Elliott and Paloma — the most significant creditors left standing in Energy Future’s long-running case — should get to choose and pay that representative.

Surprise Valley Health Care District, which operates 26-bed Surprise Valley Hospital in Cedarville, Calif., filed for chapter 9 bankruptcy on Jan. 4, Becker's Hospital Review reported. In court documents, the district's board said without bankruptcy protection, the financial state of the organization "jeopardizes the health, safety, and/or well-being" of local residents. The board authorized the healthcare district to partner with Denver, Colo.-based medical testing company CadiraMD. Under the agreement, CadiraMD will lend the healthcare district up to $1.5 million, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, including the sale of Surprise Valley Hospital. In the bankruptcy petition, the district listed its assets as between $500,000 and $1 million and its liabilities as between $1 million and $10 million.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to lend $4 million to bankrupt Real Industry Inc. and to eventually spend about $10 million to buy common stock in the publicly traded company, which is sitting on almost $1 billion in potential tax benefits, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Real Industry filed for chapter 11 in November with $913.5 million in net operating losses — potentially valuable because they can be used to offset future earnings — and said that it needs the Goldman Sachs loan to stay afloat in bankruptcy, including to preserve the value of those tax deductions. The Beachwood, Ohio-based holding company, which acquires undervalued businesses and takes advantage of net operating losses, said it has no access to the $365 million in financing that its operating unit, aluminum recycler Real Alloy, had in hand from Bank of America and others when it, too, filed for bankruptcy in November.