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Denver Broncos Stadium Naming Rights Fail to Attract Bidders

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Tickets to watch U.S. professional football team the Denver Broncos, the winners of the 2016 Super Bowl, may be a hot commodity, but an auction for their stadium's naming rights ended this week without any bids being received, Reuters reported on Friday. The stadium in Denver is called Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium, named after the eponymous sporting goods retailer in 2011. However, Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy in March and put the naming rights up for sale as part of a court-supervised auction. No bidders for the rights came forward at an auction of the retailer's assets held this week, Matt Sugar, the director of stadium affairs at the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, which is the owner of the stadium, said on Friday. Discussions are underway about launching a new auction for the naming rights.

USA Discounters Inks Deal to Resolve Colorado Lawsuit

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Liquidating retailer USA Discounters will offer debt relief to settle litigation accusing it of scamming its Colorado customers, including military service members, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. The defunct retailer, accused in multiple states of unfair financing terms and improper debt-collection efforts, particularly against military members, is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to authorize a settlement agreement with the state of Colorado. USA Discounters said that the settlement, negotiated "on the eve of trial," marks a significant step forward in its bid to wrap up its bankruptcy liquidation. Through its USA Living and Fletcher's Jewelers stores, USA Discounters sold furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry and other products from stores located near military bases, often financing such purchases with its own credit program. The company's business practices with regard to its military customers have come under fire in the past few years, thanks to government actions — including a $50,000 fine and an order to pay $350,000 in restitution.

A&P Seeks Bankruptcy Extension

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The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has asked a judge to extend its bankruptcy through 2017 to give it more time to work out a plan to distribute nearly $1 billion in proceeds from its liquidation to creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In court papers filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., lawyers for the grocery chain, known as A&P, asked Judge Robert Drain to extend its exclusivity period through Jan. 19, 2017. A&P filed for chapter 11 protection for a second time last summer with plans to liquidate. Since then, the company said on Thursday, a string of auctions and sales of its stores and other assets have garnered about $910 million and saved more than 18,000 jobs.

Diocese of Duluth Sues Insurers, Seeking Coverage of Abuse Claims

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The Diocese of Duluth (Minn.) has filed a federal lawsuit against five insurance companies, seeking to force their participation in settlement discussions, the Duluth News Tribune reported today. The diocese, which filed for chapter 11 protection in December in the wake of a $4.9 million verdict in a child sexual abuse case, filed the suit on June 24. Mediation between the diocese and representatives of the 125 people who filed abuse claims in the bankruptcy process is set to begin on July 19. The suit names as defendants the Liberty Mutual Group, Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Church Mutual Insurance Co. and Continental Insurance Co. The lawsuit alleges that the companies have breached their contracts with the diocese because they have “failed to acknowledge their full coverage obligations” to cover any judgments or other legal expenses stemming from the abuse claims.

China Fishery Seeks U.S. Bankruptcy Protection Amid Probes

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China Fishery Group Ltd. sought U.S. bankruptcy protection four months after defaulting on $300 million of bonds amid investigations by market regulators in Singapore and Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported today. The Hong Kong-based company yesterday filed its chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, listing as much as $50 million of liabilities and more than $500 million of assets, according to court documents. Its Singapore-listed parent company Pacific Andes Resources Development Ltd. filed a separate chapter 15 petition for companies reorganizing outside the U.S. The filings allow the group to fend off creditors and bondholders from seizing its assets, primarily the fishery business in Peru it acquired from Oslo-based Copeinca ASA in 2013. China Fishery said that efforts this year to sell the Peru fishery assets were not successful amid enforcement threats from some creditors. It received two undisclosed proposals in December that valued the business at $1.7 billion. The companies in the group “have been facing severe financial stress and encountered extreme challenges in their efforts to resuscitate and revive the business” after going in and out of provisional liquidation, it said in the court petition.

Dick's Wins Auction for Sports Authority Brand

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Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer, said yesterday that it was the successful bidder in the auction for the intellectual property of bankrupt competitor Sports Authority with a bid of $15 million, Reuters reported today. Dick's shares jumped as much as 6 percent after Reuters first reported the development earlier, which ensures Dick's will no longer be competing against the Sports Authority brand. Dick's shares closed up 4.1 percent at $45.06. Dick's and Sports Authority still have to finalize paperwork on the deal, and a U.S. bankruptcy court judge has to approve it, the company said in a regulatory filing. The bankruptcy court's hearing to consider approval of the deal is scheduled for July 15. The intellectual property of Sports Authority includes its e-commerce website, SportsAuthority.com, a loyalty program with 28.5 million members, and a list consisting of 114 million customer files, according to an advertisement for the intellectual property auction. Dick's also said that it plans to take over the leases for 31 Sports Authority stores for an additional $8 million.

Relativity Media Expected to Miss $30 Million Payment

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Relativity Media LLC is expected to miss a previously scheduled $30 million payment to its lenders yesterday, raising doubts about the company's ability to stay afloat just months after emerging from bankruptcy, Dow Jones Newswires reported today. Relativity's plan to exit chapter 11 called for founder and chief executive Ryan Kavanaugh to have raised $50 million in new equity by yesterday, enough to pay off at least $30 million Relativity owes to a group of hedge funds that bought the Hollywood studio's more-lucrative TV unit in October. However, Kavanaugh has yet to raise the new funding and has sought an extension of the $30 million payment. The funds will likely give Kavanaugh more time to come up with the cash, according to sources.

Triangle USA Petroleum, Oil and Gas Explorer, Files Bankruptcy

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Triangle USA Petroleum Corp., an oil and gas explorer working one of the largest shale oil reservoirs in North America, filed for bankruptcy with a plan to restructure that will keep its parent company out of chapter 11, Bloomberg News reported today. Triangle USA is active in the North Dakota and Montana regions of the Williston Basin, where it uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The company and its affiliates fell victim to the price slump that began in 2014, and bankruptcy proceedings were started “with the objective of realigning their capital structure with new market realities,” Chief Restructuring Officer John Castellano said in papers in Delaware federal court. After several months of negotiations, the company reached an agreement with holders of 73 percent of its senior unsecured notes and plans to get out of bankruptcy by converting the debt into equity in a new, restructured business. Parent Triangle Petroleum Corp. and an oilfield services affiliate, RockPile Energy Services LLC, weren’t included in Wednesday’s chapter 11 filing. Read more

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Judge Orders McKinsey to Disclose Confidential Client Roster

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Corporate turnaround guru Jay Alix prevailed on Tuesday in his long-running battle with consulting giant McKinsey & Co., the Wall Street Journal reported today. Alix, who made his career helping distressed companies shed debt and shore up their bottom lines, has accused McKinsey of failing to follow bankruptcy rules by keeping secret the client relationships that could create conflicts of interest in its work advising bankrupt companies. McKinsey denies wrongdoing and has accused Alix of trying to cripple a rival to the consulting business he founded several decades ago. But an airing of the dispute on Tuesday before Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens, who is overseeing the chapter 11 restructuring of McKinsey client Alpha Natural Resources Inc., ended in a victory for Alix. Judge Huennekens is requiring McKinsey to divulge to the court by Monday key business details, including more than 100 client names the firm has previously sought to keep confidential, though he vowed to make sure the sensitive information wouldn’t fall into Alix’s hands.

AstroTurf Files for Bankruptcy Protection

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AstroTurf LLC has filed for bankruptcy protection after a $30 million loss in a patent fight with France’s Tarkett, which makes the rival FieldTurf synthetic-grass product, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The bankruptcy filing is meant to preserve AstroTurf’s ability to challenge the judgment while allowing it to sell its business in a deal that promises a return to creditors. Private equity-owned Sportfield Deutschland Holding GmbH has offered $92.5 million. Court papers indicate AstroTurf will receive only about $16 million of the purchase price if the deal clears bankruptcy court. Other sellers, including AstroTurf owner Textile Management Associates Inc., would collect the rest of the money under the proposed transaction. Court papers say Textile Management controls AstroTurf’s intellectual property and the deal won’t work without it. Textile Management is also AstroTurf’s chief secured lender, owed nearly $38 million. The loan is connected to a promissory note signed in December 2015, less than three months after a jury found the company had infringed a patent controlled by Tarkett’s FieldTurf USA Inc. unit.