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American Apparel Inc. founder Dov Charney is working with a small investment bank on a potential bid to buy the clothing retailer out of bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Charney, who has been trying to regain control of American Apparel since being ousted last year, has engaged Cardinal Advisors LLC to evaluate options, according to a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg on Friday. Charney was fired last December from his dual roles of CEO and chairman following allegations of misconduct. He has since pushed for his return without success. The retailer was struggling with losses and debt under his leadership, and its results only worsened after his dismissal. That ultimately led the chain to file for bankruptcy protection in October.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. is lobbying to roll back a Depression-era creditor-protection law that could complicate the casino giant’s financial restructuring, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Las Vegas company and its owner, Apollo Global Management LLC, have been working to support legislation that would amend the Trust Indenture Act of 1939. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada), have pushed to include the measure in a sweeping spending bill that Congress must pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. An amendment to the law could gut lawsuits against Caesars brought by bondholders of the company’s bankrupt operating division. The bondholders have filed a lawsuit arguing that transactions that took the Caesars parent company off the hook to guarantee their debt violated the Trust Indenture Act. The law protects creditors against transactions that impair their principal or interest payments.

Agri-Fine Inc., which makes vegetable-oil-based ingredients used in livestock feed, filed for chapter 11 protection on Wednesday with plans to send its assets to the auction block, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The family-owned business blamed its financial woes on a “perfect storm” of unfavorable market conditions, including a plunge in commodity prices and high transportation costs. A number of lawsuits, frozen by the company’s bankruptcy, have also hampered its finances. In court papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, the company’s vice president said it expects to seek court approval for the sale and is in the process of negotiating a deal with a potential lead bidder.

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi said yesterday that he would approve Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s plan of reorganization, clearing a major hurdle toward ending the contentious bankruptcy for Texas's biggest power company, Reuters reported yesterday. Under the plan, Energy Future will sell its Oncor power distribution business to a consortium led by Hunt Consolidated of Texas. That deal has been valued at $19 billion. Energy Future's power plants and retail utility will be spun off to senior creditors, which are owed $24 billion. The company has been slowly winning over creditors, and by the end of a weeks-long trial that ended in late November only a few objectors remained. Those included the U.S. Trustee, who objected to the payment of some legal fees, and a lawyer who represents people with asbestos injuries. Judge Sontchi overruled the objections, although he did require that some fee payments be reviewed for reasonableness.

CBRE Capital Markets is working to sell the shuttered Forest Park Medical Center San Antonio, and the final price tag could hover around $100 million, the San Antonio Business Journal reported today. Parties interested in acquiring the real estate have until Dec. 18 to submit offers. On Oct. 7, it was reported that FPMC San Antonio Realty Partners LP, which owns the real estate and improvements where Forest Park Medical Center San Antonio was located, had filed for chapter 11 protection. FPMC reportedly defaulted on a loan of more than $68 million from Texas Capital Bank, which has requested that the property be sold. CBRE is working on behalf of FPMC San Antonio Realty Partners and Texas Capital Bank to secure a buyer for the real estate. The plan is to get a deal closed by early February, according to Scott Herbold, first vice president of CBRE Capital Markets.

Axion International Holdings Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday with plans to sell its assets, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Zanesville, Ohio-based company, which makes railroad ties, construction mats and other building materials, said in court papers that it has a bid lined up from one of its investors, which it aims to put to the test in an auction process. Investor Allen Kronstadt has agreed, through a credit bid, to forgive at least $3.2 million of the approximately $5.2 million he has lent Axion in exchange for its assets. The publicly traded company blamed its bankruptcy filing and need for a sale on liquidity issues and recurring operational losses. It has sought to right the ship by curtailing production, liquidating available inventory and seeking new investors, but these efforts have been “largely unsuccessful,” the company said in court papers.

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi will announce today whether he will approve a chapter 11 exit plan for Energy Future Holdings Corp., Texas's biggest power company, Reuters reported today. Judge Sontchi must consider whether the plan by Energy Future is fair to creditors. Under the plan, Energy Future will sell its Oncor power distribution business to a consortium led by Hunt Consolidated. That deal has been valued at $19 billion. Energy Future's power plants and retail utility will be spun off to senior creditors, which are owed $24 billion.

Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday approved a reduced incentive plan for top executives of Sabine Oil & Gas Corp., despite opposition from unsecured creditors who demanded that any bonus scheme be linked to a sales process for the bankrupt company, Reuters reported yesterday. Houston-based Sabine filed for chapter 11 protection in July with $2.8 billion in outstanding debt, joining a growing rank of oil and gas producers suffering from plunging commodity prices. Sabine's incentive program aims to motivate executives, including its CEO, to come up with a quick restructuring plan to emerge from chapter 11. The revisions, which received last-minute backing from second-lien lenders, include lowering the threshold payout for some executives and bringing forward the date for a bankruptcy confirmation hearing to June 15, 2016.

Embattled rare-earths company Molycorp Inc. wants to keep elements of its chapter 11 plan secret, including financial projections and valuation analyses prepared by its advisers, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The request to seal information “temporarily” covers voting materials prepared for creditors entitled to cast ballots on Molycorp’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy. Molycorp filed for chapter 11 protection in June, its prospects diminished by a change in Chinese trade policy that sent rare-earths prices plunging. Rare earths are elements used in small amounts in consumer electronics. On Dec. 8, Molycorp is scheduled to ask a bankruptcy judge to approve voting materials on a chapter 11 plan that provides for a variety of possible outcomes of its restructuring. However, Molycorp says that it can’t disclose fundamental financial information until after the judge signs off on the voting materials.