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KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it has just signed a governance agreement with former Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli that includes provisions to repurchase his shares and restrict his shareholder actions, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The agreement applies to all common stock Shkreli holds or controls in the company, Brisbane, Calif.-based KaloBios said today. KaloBios filed for bankruptcy in December, after Shkreli was arrested on fraud charges related to other businesses in which he was involved. He has denied the allegations. The company has the right to purchase any or all of Shkreli’s shares beginning 61 days after June 30, when it effectively emerged from bankruptcy proceedings, according to the company.

Hulk Hogan, stymied by the bankruptcy filing of Gawker Media in the midst of a legal battle over a sex tape, is fighting back using the tools of chapter 11, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Hogan, unable to collect a $140 million jury verdict against the media- and celebrity-focused site because of the bankruptcy petition it filed June 10, said in court papers filed on Tuesday that the company is improperly trying to protect its chief executive and founder, Nick Denton, who is liable for part of the judgment. He also claims Gawker or an affiliate made a $200,000 loan to Denton in the week leading up to the bankruptcy. Gawker’s strategy is to sell itself in a court-supervised auction while it pursues an appeal of the judgment, which Hogan won in a lawsuit over the posting of a tape of him having sex with a friend’s wife. If Gawker loses, sale proceeds would go to pay the claims of creditors including Hogan, a professional wrestler and entertainer whose real name is Terry Bollea. Hogan’s legal fight is bankrolled by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, with whom Gawker has a contentious history.

Bankrupt renewable power plant developer SunEdison Inc. has asked a U.S. bankruptcy court judge to approve the sale of its stake in a California solar project to an affiliate of hedge fund D.E. Shaw, Reuters reported yesterday. The purchase price of the interest is $80 million, and SunEdison expects to net $70 million in the sale, according to court filings made on Tuesday. SunEdison filed for bankruptcy in April after an aggressive growth plan proved unsuccessful. The power plant, in southern California, is not yet complete, according to court papers. Progress slowed substantially after SunEdison filed for bankruptcy, the papers say. The company will ask for an expedited auction, should the judge not grant SunEdison's request for a sale, with the D.E. Shaw affiliate's offer as the stalking-horse bid, setting the floor for others. In an auction, D.E. Shaw has offered to pay $10 million less for the stake in the plant, according to the papers.

Tucson, Ariz.-based artificial heart maker SynCardia Systems has filed for chapter 11 reorganization with plans to sell all of its assets to a Philadelphia-based private-equity firm, Tuscon.com reported yesterday. SynCardia, maker of the only FDA-approved temporary artificial heart, will continue operations without interruption, as an affiliate of Versa Capital Management LLC seeks court approval to buy the assets out of bankruptcy and recapitalize the company. To fund operations, Versa has agreed to provide the company with financing as it reorganizes in bankruptcy court. A bankruptcy judge yesterday entered interim orders approving SynCardia’s bankruptcy financing plan and its use of cash to fund operations, subject to a final hearing on Aug. 1. The company also won interim approval to pay its employees and fulfill certain customer obligations.

Alpha Natural Resources said yesterday that it expects to reach a deal with the U.S. government over responsibility for the cost of cleaning up mining sites, removing one of the most significant hurdles to the coal company's exiting bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Over the past few weeks, the fourth-largest U.S. coal miner and a slew of government agencies appeared to be heading for a showdown in court on Thursday, when Alpha is scheduled to ask a federal judge to approve its plan over objections. At issue is a program called self-bonding that has allowed leading coal companies to forego purchasing cleanup insurance on federal land by pledging to cover any such costs. Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources have all gone bankrupt in the last 11 months, leaving behind roughly $3.6 billion in self-bonding liabilities, according to securities filings. The government called Alpha's plan "fundamentally flawed" and said it was not prepared in good faith because it skirts environmental obligations, while the company has said the plan is the best way to benefit all parties. Alpha said yesterday that it anticipated reaching a deal by Thursday with the U.S. Department of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia. Alpha said a deal would include a "funding agreement" between Alpha, its lenders and a new company created to take over Alpha's best mining assets.

Boston Grand Prix, the local organizing entity of the since-canceled Seaport IndyCar race, is filing for bankruptcy, Boston.com reported today. The news comes amid the legal and financial mess resulting from the millions of dollars the group owes race ticket buyers and stakeholders. Boston Grand Prix said in its bankruptcy filing that it has less than $50,000 in assets, while listing liabilities of more than $1 million and between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently threatened and moved toward legal action against Boston Grand Prix in an effort to recoup ticket holders’ money.

Fairway emerged from bankruptcy a little more than two months after the struggling grocer filed for chapter 11 protection, Crain’s New York Business reported today. The company succeeded in persuading lenders to cut Fairway’s borrowings in half in exchange for all the equity. The reorganized company also has a new board of directors that includes a former senior Whole Foods executive and the president of Rite Aid. Fairway is effectively swapping one private-equity owner for another: A consortium that includes Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners is replacing Sterling Investment Partners. In 2007, Connecticut-based Sterling acquired Fairway for $150 million and borrowed heavily in an effort to transform the Manhattan-based grocery into a major regional supermarket chain. But that strategy hit the rocks after Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s moved into New York. Fairway never posted a profitable quarter after going public in 2013, and interest payments on its $280 million in debt devoured resources. Last year, the company tried to sell itself to more than 60 potential buyers, but there were no takers.

Shareholders of Horsehead Holding, who stand to recover nothing under a creditor-proposed reorganization plan, say that the bankrupt zinc producer’s assets are worth about $500 million more than the creditors say they are, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. If their estimate is accurate, they would be able to recoup part of their investment — something that does not happen in most bankruptcies. A court-appointed committee representing shareholders alleges that the creditor group leading the reorganization of Robinson-based Horsehead is deliberately underestimating the value of the company in order to take control at a bargain price. Horsehead declared bankruptcy Feb. 2, plagued by depressed metals prices as well as massive equipment problems and cost overruns at its zinc refinery in Mooresboro, N.C. The company listed liabilities of $544.7 million and assets of $1 billion in papers filed in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Del. Since then, the creditor group leading the reorganization said the company’s value has deteriorated to between $255 million to $305 million. Under their plan, they would exchange their debt for controlling interest in the stock of the reorganized company. Existing Horsehead shareholders would get nothing. Read more. 

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Arch Coal Inc. has picked up the support of its unsecured creditors for a chapter 11 turnaround plan, ending the threat of litigation over the coal operator’s failed efforts to stay out of bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Talks aimed at reaching a deal have been under way for sometime. New terms sketched out on Friday outline settlements that could ease the company’s path out of chapter 11. Unsecured bondholders are being offered cash and stock under the amended plan, which is slated for preliminary review on Wednesday at a bankruptcy court in St. Louis. Court papers filed Friday show the new plan is the result of a compromise that will see senior lenders and senior management pitching in to the pool of assets to be distributed to unsecured creditors. Last year, Arch tried to cut its debt load outside of bankruptcy by way of an exchange offer with junior bondholders. Senior lenders blocked the deal, a move that pushed Arch into bankruptcy in January. The filing came as other coal producers also sought court protection to address too much debt and harsh industry conditions. Litigation stemming from the failed debt exchange, as well as the threat of other lawsuits, would be put to rest under Arch’s new chapter 11 plan, according to court papers. Funds managed by Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners, which holds unsecured bond debt, will receive $5 million to settle a lawsuit it filed in May.

Duke University basketball legend Christian Laettner faces bankruptcy after several creditors collectively owed $14 million filed an involuntary chapter 7 petition against him last week, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The nature of Laettner’s debts weren’t described in the eight-page petition filed on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Durham, N.C. A 2012 story in the Wall Street Journal noted that Laettner and his business partner in several real estate deals faced civil lawsuits seeking repayment of loans valued at about $30 million, including to sports celebrities such as former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen, who played with Laettner on the 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team. Under bankruptcy-court rules, Laettner has 21 days to respond to the involuntary petition. His lawyer, Hassan Zavareei, said that the involuntary bankruptcy is related to the West Village real estate development in Durham, N.C., a downtown project that dwindled during the economic recession. The involuntary petition stems from two creditors who are fighting to recover money from the project and that Laettner plans to negotiate a deal that will lead the chapter 7 filing to be dismissed, he said.