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Big Apple Circus is planning a February bankruptcy auction for the right to acquire its copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property and circus equipment, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The procedure for the auction, described in court papers submitted on Friday by the circus’s lawyers, will need to be approved by a bankruptcy judge. Though the future of the Big Apple Circus remains uncertain, an auction may be the initial step toward resurrecting the show for 2017 and beyond. Circus Executive Director Will Maitland Weiss said yesterday that he’s optimistic the circus will carry on under a new owner, adding that several parties have expressed interest in purchasing the circus’s assets. Founded in 1977, the one-ring show became a New York cultural tradition, with holiday-season performances in Damrosch Park behind Lincoln Center and later on tour. But for the better part of a year, the future has been in doubt after financial problems forced management to cancel this year’s performance slate. The circus filed for bankruptcy in November.

Implant Sciences Corp. shareholders are seeking bankruptcy-court permission to sue funds affiliated with troubled hedge fund Platinum Partners, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The official committee representing Implant Sciences shareholders last week filed papers asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to authorize it to sue DMRJ Group LLC and Monstant Partners LLC on Implant Sciences' behalf. According to the shareholders, Implant Sciences has "taken no action" to pursue the legal claims it has against the funds. The shareholders' request comes in the wake of the recent arrest and indictment of six Platinum executives on charges of investment fraud. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Platinum funds, which are liquidating, were a big investor in Implant Sciences.

A federal bankruptcy court judge has approved the sale of Stokes County’s (N.C.) hospital and other medical facilities for $400,000 to a for-profit organization with limited experience running hospitals, the Winston-Salem Journal reported today. An affiliate of LifeBrite Hospital Group LLC of Lilburn, Ga., has been running the Stokes facilities since July 9 — three days before the Stokes Board of Commissioners said it would stop paying for the hospital’s financial commitments. Commissioners agreed to transfer the lease for the medical facilities to Life-Brite. LifeBrite has agreed to takeover $1.3 million in Medicare and Medicaid payment obligations from for-profit Pioneer Health Services, which filed for chapter 11 protection on March 31. Pioneer entered bankruptcy with seven other hospitals under its umbrella in Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia. The Stokes medical facilities altogether have about 200 employees. The court set a closing date of Jan. 31 for the Stokes transaction. Read more. 

For more on hospital and health care insolvencies, be sure to pick up a copy of the ABI Health Care Insolvency Manual, Third Edition from the ABI Bookstore. 

Linn Energy LLC's equity holders, a group that stands to be wiped out in the oil-and-gas company's restructuring, has asked a bankruptcy court to appoint an official committee to represent their interests, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Two shareholders of the bankrupt oil-and-gas company said they believe there is value available to equity owners now that oil and gas prices have rebounded from the rock-bottom lows that sent so many companies into bankruptcy. According to documents filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Victoria, Texas, the shareholders added that most of the people who own Linn shares can't afford to pay legal fees out of pocket. Even as equity holders protest, Linn has received broad support for the restructuring from its debtholders and plans to present that plan to the court on Jan. 24.

Basic Energy Services has completed its restructuring and recapitalization plan and emerged from chapter 11 protection, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported today. The oil field services company filed for chapter 11 in Wilmington, Del., in October after saying that it had reached a deal with creditors on a prepackaged reorganization to reduce its debt. The company announced it was exiting bankruptcy court on Dec. 23. With its pre-packaged plan, Basic divided among several investors over $800 million of unsecured debt, including accrued interest, in the restructuring. It also eliminated over $60 million in annual cash interest and raised $125 million of new capital, according to a company statement. Stockholders will receive new common stock and warrants in the reorganized company. 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. 

Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s bankrupt operating unit resolved a dispute with its lenders on Friday, paving the way for a consensual plan to push the casino group out of its $18 billion chapter 11, Reuters reported. In filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, bank lenders said that they had reached an agreement over their recovery terms and were withdrawing a threat to abandon a plan to end Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. Inc.’s two-year bankruptcy. The lenders, which include Blackstone Group LP's GSO Capital Partners, had set a Dec. 24 deadline for reaching a deal, without which the unit's restructuring plan would have fallen apart.

Peabody Energy Corp. failed to explain how it will cover future mine cleanup costs in a reorganization plan filed on Thursday, triggering concerns over the company's use of "self-bonds,” Reuters reported on Friday. Under a federal program called "self-bonding," large miners like Peabody have been allowed to extract coal without setting aside cash or collateral to ensure mined land is returned to its natural setting, as required by law. The practice came under scrutiny following bankruptcy filings by some of the largest U.S. coal miners because, without collateral set aside for mine reclamation, taxpayers are potentially exposed to billions of dollars in cleanup costs. Environmental groups have been following the bankruptcy to see whether Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal producer, replaces roughly $1 billion of self-bonds with other guarantees, as rival Arch Coal Inc. did in its October bankruptcy reorganization. In its plan to eliminate over $5 billion of debt to emerge from chapter 11, Peabody said it will address its "self-bonding reclamation obligations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations," without providing details.

Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. and two other energy firms announced on Friday plans to file for bankruptcy in coming weeks, joining a long list of U.S. energy companies that have succumbed to a drop in oil prices, Reuters reported. Oil and gas producers Bonanza Creek and Memorial Production Partners LP and oilfield services provider Forbes Energy Services Ltd. each said that they had a plan to reduce debt and transfer ownership to creditors. Denver-based Bonanza Creek, with oil and natural gas assets in Colorado and Arkansas, said that it would file for bankruptcy on or before Jan. 5 with a plan to eliminate $850 million in debt and provide $200 million in new equity. Memorial Production, with oil and gas assets in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and California, said that it would file for chapter 11 in coming weeks with a plan to eliminate $1.3 billion of debt. Meanwhile, Forbes Energy said it had reached a prepackaged plan with lenders and would file for bankruptcy in Houston on or before Jan. 23, 2017. As of Dec. 14, 114 oil and gas producers had filed for bankruptcy in 2016 with $57 billion in total debt, more than double the number of filings in 2015, according to Haynes & Boone. 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. 

The legal malpractice suit that "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice claims will vindicate her of bankruptcy fraud allegations — if only in the court of public opinion — is back on after being put on hold for much of this year, NJ.com reported yesterday. Giudice's lawyers Anthony Rainone and Carlos Cuevas filed papers in Morris County Superior Court on Wednesday to reinstate the malpractice lawsuit, which had been dismissed without prejudice earlier this year after her bankruptcy proceedings were unexpectedly reopened. Rainone said that the malpractice case is not likely to go to trial until late 2017 at the earliest.

Joseph Spero, bankruptcy trustee for the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. (GEIDC), is seeking the approval of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas P. Agresti to sell more than 65 acres held by GEIDC to the Enterprise Development Center of Erie County for $800,000. The Enterprise Development Center is a nonprofit economic development organization led by Rick Novotny, who is also executive director of both the Erie County Redevelopment Authority and the City of Corry Redevelopment Authority. The organization plans to buy the property, address some environmental problems related to iron contamination and then sell it to SB3 LLC, which is owned by Erie businessman Samuel "Pat" Black III, owner of Hero BX biodiesel plant, Novotny said. If approved, the GEIDC sale would retire a $738,000 lien held by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Proceeds of the sale would also be used to pay the current real estate tax bill as well as a $35,000 delinquent tax bill.