Monster Beverage Corp. is closing in on a $362 million deal to acquire rival drink maker Bang Energy out of bankruptcy, but a regulatory review has put the tie-up in jeopardy, according to court papers, Bloomberg News reported. Bang Energy maker Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc. said in a Wednesday court filing that the proposed sale to Monster is supported by its lenders and represents “the only viable path” to repaying its creditors in chapter 11. The deal also includes a related settlement of litigation between the two companies. Bang’s parent company said the transaction is being held up by a U.S. Federal Trade Commission review. The FTC has indicated it will require more information on the sale as part of a review process. But if impediments to the deal don’t “fall away” by the end of the week, the company could be forced to liquidate, according to Bang. The companies are urging the FTC to grant early termination of the review.
Embattled Fresno, Calif.-based technology company Bitwise Industries and several of its affiliated businesses have filed for bankruptcy in the wake of a financial collapse in late May, the Fresno Bee reported. Bitwise’s parent company, BW Industries Inc. filed the chapter 7 bankruptcy petition Wednesday with the U.S. District bankruptcy court in Delaware, where the company was incorporated. In addition to BW Industries Inc., the filing notes four other associated cases: Bitwise Industries Inc.; BWRD LLC.; AlphaWorks Technologies LLC, and Bruce’s Bagels, Beverages and Bites LLC. Bitwise was founded in 2013 as a hub for training students in software coding and website design, technology services for local companies, and providing leased space to budding technology entrepreneurs and other businesses. In recent years, the company’s co-founders and co-CEOs, Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr., embarked on an ambitious program of expanding Bitwise’s geographic footprint — first within California to sites in Oakland, Merced and Bakersfield, and within the past two years to other states including Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Texas. However, Bitwise was upended by financial upheaval even in the wake of announcing an $80 million venture capital infusion earlier this year, and on May 29 abruptly announced to its 900 employees nationwide — including about 400 in the Fresno area — that they were being furloughed immediately.
Silicon Valley Bank customers who saw their Cayman Islands deposits wiped down to zero have won a court ruling that could help them get their money back, the Wall Street Journal reported. A Cayman Islands court on Thursday approved a petition to wind up the local branch of SVB, according to Paul Kennedy, a partner at law firm Campbells, who filed the petition and attended the hearing. The petition was filed June 13 on behalf of SVB customers who collectively had around $38 million in deposits before the bank collapsed in March. That money was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which guaranteed the bank’s deposits held inside the U.S. but not those outside the country. SVB’s customers in the Cayman Islands checked their deposit balances one morning and saw they had been wiped down to zero. These customers are still expected to pay back loans they had taken from SVB, since they are now owned by First Citizens BancShares, a large U.S. regional bank that bought SVB’s loans in late March. The money they had earmarked to repay the debt is in the Cayman bank accounts, the customers said.
Western Global Airlines LLC founder and Chief Executive Officer Jim Neff bought the cargo airline’s deeply distressed secured debt as the company veers toward a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported. The move comes just three years after Western Global raised $400 million in a bond deal that handed Neff a payout as part of a minority stake sale to employees. Neff still owns more than 60% of the company. The company has been weighing a bankruptcy filing as it faces dwindling liquidity, Bloomberg previously reported. Neff’s plan would be to keep Western Global as a going concern as it seeks to restructure its debt load. The company began confidential talks with some of its creditors related to its financing needs last month, Bloomberg reported. Amid those talks, Truist Financial Corp. sought to sell the company’s first-lien term loan and revolver and accepted a bid of about 40 cents on the dollar.
The lead negotiators for Johnson & Johnson's proposed $8.9 billion settlement of thousands of talc lawsuits faced intense questioning in U.S. bankruptcy court on Wednesday about how much support the company has for the deal, Reuters reported. During a multi-day court hearing in Trenton, New Jersey, attorneys for plaintiffs alleging that J&J's baby powder and other talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma drilled down on J&J's public statements that it has "secured commitments from over 60,000 current claimants" for the settlement, and that the "majority" of talc claimants support it. The deal has divided lawyers representing cancer victims, many of whom claim that J&J has created the illusion of widespread support for a settlement that would deny plaintiffs just compensation. Johnson & Johnson is attempting to use the second bankruptcy of its subsidiary LTL Management to resolve all current and future claims stemming from its talc products. LTL's first attempt to do that was dismissed in April after a U.S. appeals court ruled that it was not in sufficient financial distress to be eligible for bankruptcy protection. LTL quickly filed for bankruptcy again, arguing that its second effort has won more support from plaintiffs.
National CineMedia LLC said on Tuesday that it would emerge from chapter 11 on or around August or September as its reorganization plan has been confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of Texas, Reuters reported. The biggest movie-theater advertising firm in North America will maintain its existing corporate structure with listed holding company National CineMedia Inc. after emerging from bankruptcy protection. National CineMedia LLC had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April and said it had entered into a restructuring agreement with its lenders, underscoring the challenges facing the cinema industry, which is yet to bounce back from the pandemic slump. The company will also enter into a $55 million exit financing facility, which it would use to fund operations and growth initiatives. Its existing management team will continue to lead the reorganized company.
FTX is moving ahead with efforts to revive its flagship international cryptocurrency exchange, even while its reputation continues to take a hit as new managers shed light on how they say nearly $9 billion in customer funds were stolen before the company’s collapse last year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company “has begun the process of soliciting interested parties to the reboot of the FTX.com exchange,” said Chief Executive John J. Ray III, who took over in November when it filed for bankruptcy. The failed crypto company has been holding early talks with investors about backing a potential restart of the FTX.com exchange through structures including a joint venture, people familiar with the discussions said. FTX would likely rebrand as part of any restart, these people said. The talks include possible compensation for certain existing customers, possibly by offering them stakes in any reorganized entity, the people said. Blockchain technology company Figure has indicated its interest in helping back a restart of FTX, people familiar with the matter said. Figure was part of an investment group that bid for the rights to restart Celsius Network, another bankrupt crypto business, but lost out to a consortium backed by Fortress Investment Group. Read more.
In related news, bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX sued one of its former top lawyers, accusing him of aiding fraud by company founder Sam Bankman-Fried and silencing whistleblowers who reported wrongdoing at the company, Reuters reported. The complaint, filed on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, describes Daniel Friedberg, a former chief compliance officer at FTX and general counsel of its related crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, as a "fixer" for Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives who enabled the "wholesale raiding" of customer funds. Friedberg “whitewashed” complaints from employees raising concerns about the activities of FTX and Alameda by settling claims for “inflated” amounts and in some cases hiring law firms that represented whistleblowers to perform legal work for FTX, the company said. The settlement amounts are redacted in the complaint. Read more.
A beleaguered trucking business that received a $700 million pandemic-era loan from the federal government may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection this summer amid a dispute with its union, a development that could leave American taxpayers stuck with a failed company, the New York Times reported. The financial woes at the business, Yellow, which previously went by the name YRC Worldwide, have been building for years. The company lost more than $100 million in 2019 and has more than $1.5 billion in outstanding debt, including the government loan. In 2022, YRC, which ships meal kits, protective equipment and other supplies to military bases, agreed to pay $6.85 million to settle a federal lawsuit that accused it of defrauding the Defense Department. In 2020, the Trump administration, which had ties to the company and its executives, agreed to give the firm a pandemic relief loan in exchange for the federal government assuming a 30 percent equity stake in the company. Three years later, Yellow is on the verge of going bankrupt. Since receiving the loan, the company has changed its name, restructured its business and seen its stock price plummet. As of the end of March, Yellow’s outstanding debt was $1.5 billion, including about $730 million that is owed to the federal government. Yellow has paid approximately $66 million in interest on the loan, but it has repaid just $230 of the principal owed on the loan, which comes due next year. On Tuesday, Yellow sued the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for blocking the company’s restructuring plan and accused the union of causing more than $137 million in damages. The company said that it was taking “immediate steps to try to save itself” and that the union was trying to “cause Yellow’s economic ruin.”
David’s Bridal LLC has received a tentative going-concern bid that would keep more than 190 stores open, spurring optimism that the wedding dress retailer might be able to survive bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The deal would also keep more than 7,000 jobs by staving off mass store closures, lawyers for the company said in a bankruptcy court hearing Tuesday. The bid deadline has been extended to July 3 and a new sale hearing is scheduled for July 14. “We think the opportunity to save 7,000 jobs and over 190 stores is fantastic for the vendors and the landlords,” Brad Sandler, an attorney representing the company’s official creditor committee, said during the hearing. Price and precise terms of the offer were not disclosed. David’s entered bankruptcy with nearly 300 stores.
