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The sale of defaulting Mountain West hotels in Clarksburg and Elkins, W.Va., will continue, following an evidentiary hearing yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, the West Virginia Metro News reported. “There is no ground that I can find to stop the bankruptcy sale because there is no factor of irreputable harm,” U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley ruled after over two hours of testimony. Mountain West owes $17 million in outstanding debt for two hotels to the lender, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes to state and local governments. The case, which was originally filed on May 20, diverted into U.S. bankruptcy court and has since been kicked out after Mountain West failed to meet deadlines for financial documentation.

The Colorado manufacturer of Niner bikes has filed for bankruptcy, saying it borrowed too much money during explosive growth that led it to reach more than $15 million in annual sales, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Executives who put the Fort Collins, Colo., company into bankruptcy on Monday said an extensive search for buyers earlier this year turned up a purchase offer from an investment group. The chapter 11 process will fast-track the company’s sale and give it access to a new loan so it can keep up with orders for the coming spring and summer season — its busiest time, they said. Chief Executive Chris Sugai said in court papers that Niner Inc.’s bike models, which are known for their 29-inch wheels, have drawn “a cult following within the mountain biking community” since he helped found the company in 2005. The bikes are sold through a network of about 400 U.S. dealers, while international sales in 35 countries bring in roughly 30 percent of its revenue, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. Sugai didn’t state whether the company made a profit in recent years or why it borrowed money. He said broadly its debt has grown to nearly $8 million.

Women's apparel chain New York & Co. Inc. emerged as the winning bidder in the recent bankruptcy auction of Fashion to Figure, the New York Business Journal reported. The 99-year-old company agreed to purchase plus-size retailer for a total of $2.4 million, including all fees and expenses. Fashion to Figure was founded in 2004 by the great-grandsons of Lena Bryant, the founder of the plus-size clothing chain Lane Bryant. According to a prepared statement, New York & Co. — with 459 retail stores — now owns the intellectual property rights related to the Fashion to Figure, which was in the midst of an ongoing reorganization after it filed chapter 11. The asset-purchase agreement also covers trademarks, tradenames, an extensive customer database and all in-store assets, with the exception of inventory. Negotiations to secure inventory for the anticipated relaunch will begin in early 2018.

Two months after coming out of bankruptcy, Rue21 Holdings Inc., the mall-centric teen apparel retailer, has won back the support of a group of key financiers who extend credit to its suppliers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Still, the company’s shares are languishing at bottom-of-the-barrel levels in a sign of scant investor interest in taking a bet on the retailer ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season. The shift in ​attitude among so-called factors, which buy accounts receivables at a discount from suppliers with the expectation of getting full payment from retailers at a later date, comes at a crucial time for Rue21 as the holiday shopping season kicks off. Rue21 filed for bankruptcy in April after its suppliers refused to ship goods without substantial cash up front or quicker cash payments. The company emerged from bankruptcy on Sept. 22, 2017.

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Avaya Inc. said yesterday that he would confirm the telecommunication company’s chapter 11 plan, bringing its nearly year-long effort to reorganize its finances effectively to a close. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein said at a hearing that he was satisfied with the plan, which marked a third try by the communications software and services provider for a blueprint for emerging from bankruptcy. The plan provides holders of first-lien debt with 90.5 percent of stock in the reorganized company and holders of second-lien notes with a pro rata share of 4 percent of stock and warrants for an additional 5.1 percent of the shares. General unsecured creditors such as vendors will receive $57.5 million in cash, and the government’s pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., will receive $340 million in cash and 5.5 percent of shares.

Bankrupt sports-equipment distributor Maurice Sporting Goods Inc. came to court last week and intends to sell the business to investment firm, Middleton Management Co. The dilemma that was facing Judge Christopher Sontchi was that Maurice and its primary lender, BMO Harris Bank N.A, were seeking approval for a provision that would allow Middleton to collect a $150,000 breakup fee in the event the sale process falls through, according to a WSJ Pro Bankruptcy commentary. What is unusual in the case of Maurice, according to the commentary, is that the company wanted Judge Sontchi to approve the fee before the parties had finalized an asset purchase agreement or submitted to the court papers outlining how the proposed sale process is expected to play out. What is on file is a signed letter of intent from Middleton to serve as a stalking-horse bidder in a proposed chapter 11 auction for Maurice’s assets. The fee, as well as the conditions under which it would be awarded to Middleton, is outlined in the letter of intent and papers related to a bankruptcy loan being provided by BMO Harris. Despite expressing misgivings about the fee, Judge Sontchi approved the provision, saying he wasn’t willing “to play chicken with the survival of this case” over a relatively small amount of money.

Peter Thiel is demanding that he be given the chance to bid on Gawker.com, the gossip and news website he helped drive out of business and which is now being shopped in bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lawyers representing Thiel said in papers filed on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that the billionaire venture capitalist is “the most able and logical purchaser” of Gawker.com but that, so far, his overtures have been rebuffed by the administrator overseeing the sale process. Thiel’s interest in the website, which has been dormant since August 2016, adds a new twist to the continuing legal wrangling between him and publisher of the blog, Gawker Media LLC. Thiel secretly financed Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the publisher, the ruling on which by a jury forced the Gawker Media and its founder Nick Denton into chapter 11 last year and, ultimately, out of business. The filing also raises a new question about the ultimate fate of Gawker.com and its archive. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that the sale process had put Gawker’s articles at risk of being deleted. A new owner of Gawker.com would be free to remove old articles from the website. Assets for sale include the Gawker domain, social media accounts and nearly 200,000 published articles.

Navillus Contracting is seeking court approval for $135 million in bankruptcy financing to help it complete two prominent construction projects in New York, the Wall Street Journal reported. In court papers filed on Nov. 21, Navillus sought permission from Judge Sean Lane to tap $13.5 million of the bankruptcy loan, provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Navillus says it needs the money “to ensure an orderly transition into chapter 11 without any attendant disruption to its construction operations.” A hearing on the matter is set for Wednesday, and Navillus will have to return to court for approval to draw down the remainder of the loan. Navillus sought chapter 11 protection earlier this month at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, just days after another federal court declined to halt a $76 million judgment owed to workers for allegedly skirting collective-bargaining agreements.

Takata has signed a definitive agreement to sell nearly all of its operations to rival Key Safety Systems for $1.59 billion as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, CFO Magazine reported. The proceeds from the sale will be used to cover legal costs resulting from the exploding airbag scandal that drove Takata into chapter 11 in June. The deal does not include the problematic ammonium nitrate airbag inflator business, which will be run by the reorganized Takata and eventually will be wound down. Chinese-owned Key Safety beat out nearly a half dozen competitors to win a stalking-horse bid to acquire Takata out of bankruptcy.