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Northstar Offshore Ventures LLC, a Houston, Texas-based subsidiary of Orinoco Natural Resources, LLC, acquired certain oil and gas assets from bankrupt Northstar Offshore Group, LLC pursuant to a §363 sale, according to a press release. The sale order was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur on Aug. 2, and effective on Aug. 1, 2017. The assets sold are all located on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico and consist of eight producing fields, nine non-producing fields, and two primary term lease blocks. The purchase price was $13.25 million in cash plus other consideration. Northstar Offshore Group filed for chapter 11 protection on Dec. 2, 2016. Read more. 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Air Berlin's creditors are meeting today for the first time as bidders jostle for position for the insolvent carrier's assets, although major progress is not expected yet, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, which is being kept in the air thanks to a 150 million euro ($177 million) government loan, has been in talks with parties interested in its assets since last week, when it filed for insolvency after major shareholder, Gulf carrier Etihad, said it would no longer provide funding. Chief Executive Thomas Winkelmann has said that time is of the essence and wants a deal before the end of September. Lufthansa, which was first in line for talks, is interested in taking on dozens of planes and Austrian unit Niki. Thomas Cook, which owns German airline Condor, has expressed interest in the process, while easyJet is also said to be weighing up assets.

Solar Spectrum, a clean-energy company backed by private equity firm Northern Pacific Group, bought residential system provider Horizon Solar Power, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. They will sit together under the Sungevity brand, the Oakland, Calif.-based solar company that filed for bankruptcy in March. Terms weren’t disclosed in a statement yesterday. Solar Spectrum in April bought assets from Sungevity. The merger comes amid a turbulent time for the rooftop solar industry. Sungevity is among several companies that have gone bankrupt, collapsed or are winding down as they chase smaller margins. The rooftop solar industry may contract nationally for the first time in 16 years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, reflecting a shift in sales strategies and increasing pressure from utilities to adjust incentives.

A laid-off employee from battery maker Alevo filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court alleging the company violated a law requiring it to give workers 60 days’ notice of a downsizing, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported today. The U.S. arms of Alevo, the Swiss battery maker with a high-profile Russian investor, on Friday filed for chapter 11 protection and announced layoffs for 290 workers in Concord, northeast of Charlotte. The plaintiff, Jerome Singleton, worked as a project manager until Friday at Alevo’s facility located at a former Philip Morris cigarette factory in Concord, the suit says. According to the complaint, he received no advanced notice of the layoff or any explanation. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, alleges the company did not provide required notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and asks the federal bankruptcy court for “statutory remedies, as well as unpaid wages.”

Lufthansa has received more German government support in its bid to take over substantial assets of insolvent rival Air Berlin, with German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries saying she would welcome such a move, Reuters reported. "Lufthansa is already an aviation champion — its position can be strengthened further though," she said. However, a spokesman for the ministry later attempted to play down the remarks, saying that it had no preferred bidder. Industry rivals have voiced concerns at the way the insolvency process is being handled. Lufthansa, Germany's top carrier, cannot buy all of Air Berlin because it would give it a dominant position in Germany. But Lufthansa is first in line for talks, ahead of other potential bidders.

A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday approved a $1 million loan to keep the lights on and the doors open at Alaska Dispatch News as the company works its way through a chapter 11 protection, according to the Alaska Dispatch News. Judge Gary Spraker and Northrim Bank also gave the OK for Alaska Dispatch News to use its money in its bank account to pay wages to employees and to pay past-due health insurance premiums. The debtor in possession loan will come from Binkley Co. LLC, a group poised to buy Alaska Dispatch News from its current owner, Alice Rogoff. Ryan Binkley of Fairbanks and Jason Evans of Anchorage are the new publishers of the paper.

Joe's Crab Shack, the chain of beach-themed seafood restaurants, has closed at least 40 locations as the company undergoes a bankruptcy and sale, UPI reported yesterday. Seven of the closings are in Texas, the state where the company's owner is based in Houston. The companion brand, Brick House Tavern + Tap, closed two locations. The company's website now lists 72 Joe's Crab Shacks and 23 Brick Houses.

The U.S. arm of Alevo, the cash-strapped Swiss battery maker with a high-profile Russian investor, said on Friday that it was filing for chapter 11 protection, the Charlotte Observer reported on Saturday. The company arrived in Cabarrus County, N.C., in 2014 with great fanfare, vowing to create hundreds of jobs through its revolutionary energy-storage technology. But production and hiring lagged those projections. The company gained attention this spring when a Russian billionaire with a connection to President Donald Trump emerged as a new investor and installed former associates at the company. In a statement, Alevo said it had made progress with its “groundbreaking battery technology,” but production challenges left it short on financing. It had been actively seeking new funding, but it wasn’t realized in time. The company planned to lay off 245 employees on Friday, followed by the remaining 45 by Sept. 30, according to a notice filed with the state. The company plans to immediately sell off assets, the filing said.

Sempra Energy said that it will buy Oncor for $9.45 billion in cash after Energy Future Holdings Corp, which indirectly owns Oncor, abandoned a deal to sell the power transmission company to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Reuters reported today. San Diego-based Sempra expects to own about 60 percent of a reorganized Energy Future after the transaction that is valued at $18.8 billion, including Dallas-based Oncor's debt, it said late on Sunday. In July, the energy unit of Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy Oncor for $9 billion, but the deal ran into trouble after Energy Future's biggest creditor Elliott Management Corp opposed the sale arguing it undervalued Oncor. Elliott also tried to put together its own bid for $9.3 billion to buy Oncor. Separately, Berkshire said last week that it would not be raising its offer for Oncor, which delivers power to more than 3.4 million homes and businesses.

Bruegger's Bagels is selling 28 of its upstate New York stores for $4.6 million as part of its franchisee's bankruptcy reorganization plan, the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union reported. The bagel chain's largest franchisee, Flour City Bagels of Rochester, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016. Bruegger's has 12 local stores, including its original location on Congress Street in Troy, that are all part of the sale to New York Style Bagels LLC. Last year, Bruegger's Bagels abruptly closed its shop at Madison Avenue and South Allen Street, a neighborhood staple since the 1980s amid the closing of several of the upstate stores that existed at the time of the bankruptcy in 2016. At the time, HOT LLC, which describes itself as the sole member of Flour City Bagels, said that it hoped to continue operating while it restructured its debt.