David Cassidy's Fort Lauderdale home is up for auction after a bankruptcy court appointed Fisher Auction Co. to oversee the sale, the South Florida Business Journal reported on Friday. The home has been assessed at $1.9 million and the auction date is tentatively set for Aug. 19. Cassidy, best known for his role in the 1970s sitcom “The Partridge Family,” reported assets and debts each between $1 million and $10 million in his bankruptcy filing.
Southfield, Mich.-based Chassix Holdings Inc. could have trouble winning approval from a class of trade creditors for its plan to exit bankruptcy if Indianapolis-based Allison Transmission Inc. can get its litigation claim against Chassix temporarily valued at $1.1 billion, Crain’s Detroit Business reported today. Chassix, which reported annual revenue of about $1.4 billion in a statement this year, awaits a hearing Wednesday before Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles on Allison's request to give its pending lawsuit claim in Marion County, Ind., a temporary value. Creditors were supposed to vote by Friday on whether to approve the payment terms in Chassix's April 24 reorganization plan before a confirmation hearing June 30. But Allison will get an extension until Judge Wiles can hear arguments and decide on the breach-of-contract suit.
The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims on Friday said they will receive $140 million from a feeder fund that ignored "glaring" red flags that the swindler was running a Ponzi scheme, Reuters reported on Friday. Plaza Investments International Ltd. will make the payment to end a lawsuit brought by Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating the former Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. The accord would boost to nearly $10.9 billion the sum that Picard has recovered for Madoff customers, who he estimates lost $17.5 billion of principal. According to settlement papers filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Picard will deem valid about $405 million of Plaza's claims against Madoff's former firm.
A bankruptcy judge rejected a winning bid to sell Family Christian LLC, a retailer of religious books and church supplies, to an investment group led by Atlanta businessman Richard Jackson, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy Judge John Gregg on Thursday suggested that the Michigan-based retailer’s bankruptcy lawyers hold another auction for the 266-store chain, saying in a 48-page decision the marathon event in May was “nothing short of chaotic.” Family Christian’s bankruptcy lawyers had declared a $46.8 million offer from Jackson, who promised to keep the 3,100-worker chain alive, to be the winner. Two liquidation firms who proposed shutting down the chain — Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC and Hilco Merchant Resources LLC—argued that their offer would provide more money to pay the bankrupt retailer’s debts. In his opinion, Judge Gregg didn't say which bid he thought best. Instead, he rejected all offers after going over a series of mistakes that unfolded during the auction, which began on May 21, recessed several times amid confusion over the bidding process and ended at 2 a.m. on May 27. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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Nextel's bankrupt Latin American arm gained U.S. court approval on Thursday of a plan to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy under the control of bondholders including Aurelius Capital Management, the company's lawyer said, Reuters reported yesterday. NII Holdings, a telecom operator for the Nextel brand in Brazil, got approval for the contested $4.35 billion turnaround plan from Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, concluding a trial that began earlier this month, NII attorney Scott Greenberg said yesterday. The plan, which will cede control to Aurelius and other holders of $4.35 billion in bonds, is based on a series of settlements of complex legal disputes over the validity of inter-company transfers. While most creditors supported the deal, a bondholder subset known as the CapCo group called it a sweetheart deal for Aurelius that reduced CapCo's payout by $150 million — more than a third of its total recovery.
Oil and gas producer Saratoga Resources Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing operating issues, an arbitration award against the company and the sharp decline in energy prices, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Saratoga’s operation focuses on south Louisiana and the shallow Gulf of Mexico Shelf. The company said yesterday that it believes it has sufficient cash to operate in the immediate term without debtor-in-possession financing. Saratoga said many of the issues in its field operations have been resolved, and it has reduced costs to address the low-price environment. Saratoga previously filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and emerged in 2010. In April, the company said it was working with its secured lenders "to address liquidity issues with a view to either restructure or repay existing debt."
The former RadioShack won court approval of the last major transactions of its bankruptcy case: more than $50 million worth of real estate in Texas, California and Maryland, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon said at a hearing this week that he will sign off on the deals, according to a lawyer present at the session in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Properties in Fort Worth, Texas, and Woodland, Calif., are being sold to B.H. Management Inc. for $39.29 million. SK Realty Management LLP is buying the former RadioShack 's Hagerstown, Md., property for $11.4 million, court papers say.
Hercules Offshore Inc. plans to put itself into bankruptcy next month in a creditor-supported deal that would wipe out all of its $1.2 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The offshore drilling rig owner grappling with a cash crunch after oil prices plunged entered into a pact with more than 67 percent of its junior-ranked bondholders that would transfer the company’s ownership to them in exchange for canceling its borrowings, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The restructuring support agreement requires Houston-based Hercules to file for bankruptcy by July 8. Investors of six sets of unsecured and convertible notes would trade their holdings for 96.9 percent of new common stock in a reorganized Hercules, according to the filing. The company’s existing equity holders would see their stake reduced to 3.1 percent. The company plans to issue $450 million of new borrowings when it emerges from bankruptcy to fund the remaining cost of constructing a new drilling rig, the filing shows.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to hire a criminal defense team, after prosecutors in Minnesota filed charges against the archdiocese for allegedly failing to protect children from abusive priests, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers filed on Tuesday, the archdiocese asked Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel to approve its application to employ two attorneys from Fredrikson & Byron P.A., a Minneapolis-based law firm. The archdiocese, home to 187 parishes and 825,000 parishioners, filed for chapter 11 protection in January in the face of mounting abuse-related lawsuits. The bankruptcy stemmed largely from the passage of the Minnesota Child Victims Act in 2013, which eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual-abuse cases and opened a three-year window during which alleged victims can file civil lawsuits demanding compensation.
U.S. Trustee Judy Robbins has filed an objection to the proposed bidding procedures for Patriot Coal, including the stalking-horse bid from Blackhawk Mining, saying they would “likely chill the bidding process,” Forbes.com reported yesterday. Robbins objected to the deal’s breakup fee and potential expense reimbursements for Blackhawk that could reach as high as $24 million, as well as the level of discretion and “unfettered ability” the procedures provide to the company to determine who would constitute a “qualified bidder,” determine what information to provide bidders, and alter the bidding procedures as they see fit, “all without any real oversight or consultation except for, in limited circumstances, in consultation with the DIP lenders.” With respect to the bid protections, Robbins said that they should be denied by the bankruptcy court because the amount is excessive; the bidding process contemplates Blackhawk being permitted to credit bid the amount of the protections in an overbid, thus creating an unleveled playing field for competing bids; and the protections are triggered by termination events other than an alternative transaction, such as a failure to close the transaction by the Sept. 25 milestone deadline. A hearing on the sale procedures is scheduled for June 23.
