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The Diocese of Duluth, Minn., is seeking an extension to file reorganization plans in its bankruptcy case as representatives prepare for more settlement talks with victims of child sexual abuse, the Duluth News Tribune reported today. The diocese and a court-appointed creditors committee met for a "productive," two-day mediation session last month in Minneapolis, and they're planning to return to the table for additional discussions during the week of Nov. 14, diocese attorneys said. "The parties are optimistic that a global resolution will be reached by the close of the November session," attorneys Bruce Anderson and Phillip Kunkel wrote in the motion. The motion asks Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel to extend a deadline for the diocese to file a proposal to regain control of its finances and repay creditors. That plan is currently due Sept. 1, but attorneys are asking for it to be pushed back to March 17.

The House of Representatives is pushing to enact a bankruptcy act for banks that has several concerning features that could make bailouts more likely, not less likely, according to a commentary by Profs. Mark J. Roe of Harvard Law School and David A. Skeel Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania in the New York Times DealBook blog. It has passed a bankruptcy-for-banks bill, sent it to the Senate, and now embedded it in its appropriations bill, meaning that if Congress is to pass an appropriations bill this year, it may also have to enact the bankruptcy-for-banks bill. In concept, the professors say that bankruptcy for banks makes sense, even if it offers the benefits of government bailouts that industrial companies rarely receive. After all, a bank failure can bring down the economy, while an industrial failure cannot. But if banks can be reorganized in bankruptcy, the possibility of a win-win result is in the cards. It should be possible to restructure a big bank to stop it from damaging the economy without having to bail it out. First and most problematic about the bill, Roe and Skeel said that only the bank and not the regulator can make the bankruptcy happen. If the regulators think that a bankruptcy is needed, but that a bailout or alternative resolution process is not needed, they cannot directly force a filing.

Univision Holdings Inc won a bankruptcy auction on Tuesday to acquire U.S. internet publisher Gawker Media LLC for $135 million, outbidding media company Ziff Davis LLC, which had made an initial offer of $90 million, Reuters reported yesterday. Univision's winning bid for Gawker, which will go before a bankruptcy judge tomorrow, shows how the U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster is seeking to expand its digital media properties and is not shying away from a news brand that has often courted controversy to build a cult readership. Univision was the only challenger to Ziff Davis, whose stalking-horse bid had set the floor for others in the auction. Gawker sought bankruptcy in June after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.

An affiliate of White Plains, New York-based Reich Brothers LLC bid $29.7 million Friday for the Columbus Castings’ assets, the Columbus (Ohio) Business Journal reported today. The bid bested an offer of $28.1 million by an entity named Columbus Operations LLC. The auction could mark the end of a swift revival and fall for the Parsons Avenue plant of Columbus Castings, which has counted a variety of owners and names over its decades but remained a constant presence on the southern edge of Columbus. The plant’s operators in April warned its nearly 800 employees that they could lose their jobs as the plant’s holding company prepared for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, which it filed in May. A planned private sale for the plant fell through in June.

Univision Holdings Inc. has offered to acquire Gawker Media LLC, challenging a $90 million stalking-horse bid from media company Ziff Davis LLC in the auction for the U.S. internet publisher, Reuters reported today. Univision's bid for Gawker illustrates how the U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster is seeking to expand its digital media properties, and is not shying away from a news brand that has often courted controversy to build a cult readership. Despite the media hype that is usually associated with Gawker, however, Univision's sole bid shows that interest in the auction was otherwise limited. An investment banker representing Gawker said in court last month that he had a list of 40 potential buyers he planned to market the company to. Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June, with a pre-packaged acquisition proposal from Ziff Davis, setting the floor for any other offers at the bankruptcy auction. The New York-based publisher sought bankruptcy after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.

Embattled investor Lynn Tilton defended herself in a Delaware court on Wednesday against allegations that she had not disclosed the complex holdings of $2.5 billion distressed debt funds that she lost control of this year, Reuters reported yesterday. The flamboyant Tilton testified for five hours about complex loan vehicles known as the Zohar funds that she created more than a decade ago. The funds have financed her investments in ailing companies such as Dura Automotive Systems, earning her the title of "Diva of Distressed." However, after one of the three Zohar funds defaulted, Tilton's Patriarch Partners investment firm stepped down as the collateral manager and was replaced by restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal in March. In April, A&M sued Patriarch to get access to documents on the Zohar collateral. Tilton testified in Delaware's Court of Chancery that A&M had all the documents it needed. She said some Zohar holdings included the equity of borrowers, and those borrowers were also companies in the Patriarch Partners portfolio. Tilton said that the Zohar funds did not have to provide stockholding details to A&M, because she retained control over the equity.

Shareholders won’t get an official voice in the bankruptcy of SunEdison Inc. because the company is “hopelessly insolvent,” with debts outweighing assets by at least $1 billion, a bankruptcy judge has ruled, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The decision from Judge Stuart Bernstein followed a court fight aimed at proving the solar-power developer has enough value left to offer hope that shareholders would avoid a wipeout in bankruptcy. Judge Bernstein, who has presided over SunEdison’s chapter 11 case from its start in April, said that it is “substantially unlikely” the company would be able to pay off its debts. Even working with book values on paper and estimates of what asset sales would bring, SunEdison would come up from $1 billion to $2.5 billion short of debts, the judge said. The judge turned down a request for an official committee to represent shareholders in SunEdison’s bankruptcy case, a bid that was driven in part by shock over the rapid decline in value in the company.

Houston-based Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. emerged from bankruptcy yesterday after more than a year after it filed, the Houston Business Journal reported yesterday. The exploration and production company also closed on its new senior secured credit facility, which has an initial borrowing base of $150 million, and on its new $150 million second lien term loan. Sabine’s chapter 11 reorganization included a debt-for-debt exchange, a debt-to-equity conversion and the issuance of warrants to purchase stock in Sabine’s new parent holding company. According to Sabine’s July 2015 chapter 11 filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the company had $2.48 billion in assets and nearly $2.91 billion in liabilities as of May 31, 2015. Read more.

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