Limetree Bay Refining LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston on Monday after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency closed its Caribbean oil refinery, Bloomberg News reported. The St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands-based company said in a statement that it plans to use the court protection process to negotiate with creditors and equity holders and weigh options including asset sales. The refinery sought bankruptcy “due to severe regulatory and financial constraints” that forced it to suspend its refinery operations indefinitely, and has lined up to $25 million of so-called debtor-in-possession financing that will help it maintain the refinery through the chapter 11 process, according to the statement. Limetree’s parent company will continue to operate the firm’s related oil storage terminal business. That unit is working with financial and legal advisers to navigate financial strains associated with the shuttered refinery, Bloomberg reported earlier Monday. The 200,000-barrel-a-day refinery in May was forced to halt operations following emissions incidents that included contamination of drinking water. On June 21, the company said it was suspending plans to restart the refinery and cutting more than 270 workers after efforts to raise capital foundered.
Pipeline Foods, LLC on Friday said that it and certain subsidiaries and affiliates have filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, according to a press release. The company will be filing customary motions with the bankruptcy court that will authorize, upon court approval, the company's ability to operate within a cash collateral budget, including, among other things, the payment of employee wages and benefits without interruption and the use of cash collateral. The company will continue its pre-filing efforts to evaluate any and all strategic alternatives, including a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of its businesses in an effort to maximize value and recovery for all creditors. In parallel with this process, the company expects to request authority to sell its grain inventory outside of the ordinary course at market prices in an effort to facilitate the company's use of cash collateral. The first hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Sharity Ministries Inc., a medical-cost-sharing nonprofit for Christians, has filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to keep operating amid accusations by state authorities that it deceived consumers by running a sham health-insurance business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The nonprofit said that it would use bankruptcy to break many of its contracts with Aliera Cos., which provides administrative, marketing, sales and other services to Sharity, according to papers filed Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Aliera is also under investigation by state authorities for allegedly evading insurance regulations. Sharity operates a healthcare sharing ministry that covers certain medical expenses submitted by its roughly 10,000 members from voluntary contributions made by other members, according to court papers. In October, New York state accused Aliera and Sharity of running a sham insurance business in a manner designed to evade regulation. Although Aliera and Sharity say they aren’t health insurers and don’t guarantee the payment of claims, they advertise in New York as healthcare alternatives, state officials said. A hearing on the New York matter is scheduled for this fall. Sharity has said that it pays a medical expense if it deems the request eligible and if there are enough member contributions to cover that expense. Regulators in California, New Jersey, Texas and Georgia are also investigating Sharity, according to court papers.
Limetree Bay Energy is preparing for a bankruptcy filing by its oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands after environmental contamination caused the company to indefinitely extend a shutdown of the plant, Bloomberg News reported. The refinery on St. Croix has been seeking so-called debtor-in-possession financing that will help fund a restructuring in bankruptcy court. Limetree Bay has been in talks with creditors to address its debt after the shutdown of the 200,000-barrel-a-day refinery left it unable to raise additional financing. Operational mishaps in May contaminated drinking water, sent oil droplets raining down on residents of the island and produced heavy odors. In the same month, the refinery missed a tank usage payment to Limetree Bay’s terminals in St. Croix. That’s now squeezing the finances of the terminal business, and S&P Global Ratings slashed its credit grades on Limetree Bay Terminals — an entity affiliated with the refinery that has a $446 million term loan — by five levels last month to CCC-. Limetree’s financial challenges date from at least 2009 and its environmental woes to at least 2005, when it was accused by environmental regulators of contaminating drinking water and damaging wildlife and the marine environment. The refinery planned to close for good in 2012 when it was owned by Hess and PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company. It filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and was sold to private owners.
A giant tobacco cooperative based in Raleigh, N.C., has filed a multimillion dollar bankruptcy petition, the Triangle Business Journal reported. The U.S. Tobacco Cooperative filed papers to reorganize through a chapter 11 petition, listing both assets and liabilities as ranging between $100 million and $500 million. In a statement, USTC said the filing was to meet "short-term contractual obligations to member-growers during crop season 2021." USTC, according to its website, produces flue-cured tobacco grown by its more than 500 members in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Member-grown tobacco is processed and sold as raw materials to cigarette makers throughout the globe. Over the past few years, the firm has been involved in contentious litigation. In 2018, it sued the federal government, alleging that informants from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had “engineered a scheme to steal approximately $24 million from USTC’s farmers.” In the initial lawsuit, USTC claimed the informants had pushed USTC to purchase the assets of two tobacco distribution businesses (Big South Wholesale and Big South Wholesale of Virginia) which were, in actuality, “an ATF front.” The ATF, in the U.S. government’s filings in the case, had explained that its investigations required it to purchase cigarettes, “therefore, ATF could operate in the small world of the tobacco trade only through established tobacco traders,” and denied USTC’s claims of negligence. That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed with prejudice last October. In 2019, USTC again filed suit, this time against certain underwriters at Lloyd’s, claiming the insurers failed to reimburse it “for the millions of dollars of losses it has incurred as a result of physical loss of and damage to its tobacco product arising from mold, humidity, water damage, moisture, flooding and/or other similar perils.” That case is ongoing in federal court. USTC also found itself on the receiving end of what ended up being a $24 million class action complaint, referenced in its bankruptcy statement. The complaint accused it of improperly retaining and using reserve funds held over from the tobacco pricing era, where members were paid for tobacco that failed to sell at auction for more than the minimum support price set by the federal government. USTC denied wrong doing.
Corp Group Banking SA, a Chilean financial holding company controlled by billionaire Alvaro Saieh, filed for bankruptcy after the coronavirus pandemic sparked an economic slowdown that worsened fortunes in the banking sector, Bloomberg News reported. The Santiago-based company on Friday sought chapter 11 protection from creditors in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The move was expected after the company skipped an interest payment last year on $500 million of 6.75% notes due 2023 and didn’t cure it when a grace period expired Oct. 15. Corp Group Banking failed to meet its payments after the pandemic and social unrest in Chile affected operations at its main operating unit, lender Itau CorpBanca, a bank in which it owns a 26.6% stake. Amid a severe economic downturn, Itau suspended dividend payments that Corp Group relied on to meet obligations. Saieh, who owns one of Chile’s largest conglomerates with stakes in media, retail, real estate, and hotels, agreed in 2014 to sell his controlling stake in Corpbanca to Itau Unibanco Holding SA for $1.8 billion. Itau Corpbanca announced earlier this month a plan to sell as much as $1.15 billion in new shares to meet Basel III capital requirements.
A holding company behind an assisted living provider with about 50 small communities in Texas and Alabama has filed for chapter 11 protection, Senior Housing News reported. The company, CP Holdings LLC, owns or partially owns 50 subsidiaries operating 24-suite assisted living communities in rural markets, 10 of which operate facilities under the Country Place Senior Living brand, according to the June 20 filing. Also included in the bankruptcy filing is Pacrim, a six-employee CP Holdings subsidiary that aids with strategy, operations and finances as well as accounting and development. CP Holdings’ current liabilities total just over $83 million, with the majority owed to Hong Kong-based lender Tor Asia Credit Master Fund LP. CP Holdings has proposed selling its assets to Tor under a stalking-horse sale.
Candy retailer It'Sugar is slated to emerge from bankruptcy after nearly nine months of court proceedings, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based chain is expected to finalize its chapter 11 reorganization process by the end of July, according to a statement from the company. When it does so, Fort Lauderdale-based BBX Capital will reacquire control of It'Sugar. The retailer had become its own entity when BBX restructured last year. It'Sugar filed for chapter 11 protection in September. At the time, BBX Capital said that the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame for It'Sugar's financial struggles. BBX Capital President Jarett Levan said tourism historically accounted for 60% of It'Sugar's annual sales and, at that point in the pandemic, travel was still at historic lows nationwide. On June 11, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida announced its intention to confirm It'Sugar's reorganization plan, according to the company. The confirmation order is expected to become final within a week, which will allow It'Sugar to officially emerge from bankruptcy proceedings after 30 days.
Washington Prime Group Inc., a real estate investment trust that operates enclosed malls and strip centers across the U.S., filed for bankruptcy after the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed in-person shopping, Bloomberg News reported. The chapter 11 filing in Houston will allow Washington Prime to continue operating while it seeks to implement a restructuring agreement that it reached with certain creditors, according to a board resolution filed with the bankruptcy petition. The company, which estimated its assets at about $4 billion and debt of almost $3.5 billion, secured an up to $100 million debtor-in-possession loan that would help fund operations during court proceedings. The Columbus, Ohio-based firm that operates around 100 malls, saw its bonds tumble into distressed territory in 2020 as rent collections dried up and tenants filed for bankruptcy or went out of business. It began negotiating with its creditors last year and skipped a $23 million bond interest payment in February. Creditors had been extending a forbearance agreement amid the talks.
