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Schramm Inc., which makes land-based hydraulic drilling equipment used in mining and oil-and-gas production, filed for bankruptcy with plans to sell the business in a court-supervised auction process, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company, which says its customers include some of the world’s largest drilling rig operators, sought chapter 11 protection yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., hoping to have a sale completed by September. Court papers show Schramm already has lined up an initial $16.3 million offer from private-equity firm GenNx360 Capital Partners LP, an existing lender that also owns a large stake in Schramm’s bankrupt parent company. Schramm said that demand for its rigs has suffered because of the larger downturn in the oil-and-gas industry. Some of its rig assemblies have been idled, cutting into revenue projections.

Retrieval-Masters Creditors Bureau Inc., whose business was blamed for a large-scale data breach that affected millions of Quest Diagnostics Inc. customers, filed for chapter 11 protection, citing fallout from the security issue, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which collects patient receivables for medical labs under the name American Medical Collection Agency, listed assets and liabilities of as much as $10 million in its bankruptcy petition filed in the Southern District of New York. It’s aiming to liquidate, the company said. Court documents cited a breach discovered in March that affected millions of people, including customers of Quest Diagnostics and Laboratory Corporation of America. Soon after, Quest, LabCorp, Conduent Inc. and CareCentrix Inc. -- American Medical’s four largest clients -- stopped doing business with the company, leading to the bankruptcy filing, according to court papers.

A Durham, N.C.-based logistics company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 13, Freight Waves reported. C. Brent Smith, owner of Crystal Transportation Services of NC, doing business as Guardian Logistics Services, cited two major hurricanes that hit the Eastern and Coastal areas in 2018 as having a “big impact on its operation.” The company lists that it has three trucks and five drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER system. Smith also operates a storage facility. Both are still operating as the company reorganizes. In the past eight years, the company has also gone by the names of Riley Life Logistics, Riley Life Industries and Logisticsville, according to its chapter 11 petition. According to its petition filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the company lists its creditors as being between 50-99, and its assets as being less than $1 million. The logistics company lists its estimated liabilities as totaling more than $3 million, including approximately $1.3 million in secured claims and around $1.7 million in unsecured claims.

White Star Petroleum LLC, founded by late oilman Aubrey McClendon, filed Tuesday for chapter 11, days after unpaid vendors tried to push the energy company into an involuntary bankruptcy, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Oklahoma City-based oil and gas producer also plans to put its assets up for sale, according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The company said it has been stressed financially in recent years, partly due to low production volumes and higher-than-expected operational costs. The chapter 11 filing comes after lenders reduced access to cash amid failures to make required payments. White Star’s debts include a $274 million secured revolving credit line, a $58 million secured term loan from EnLink Oklahoma Gas Processing LP, and $10 million in unsecured bonds. Read more. 

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Elk Petroleum Inc., an oil and gas producer operating in the Rocky Mountains, filed for bankruptcy with a deal already arranged to give most of the equity in the reorganized business to secured lenders that include Riverstone Credit Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Denver business on Wednesday sought protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., along with related companies that include Resolute Aneth LLC. Earlier this month their Australian owner, Elk Petroleum Ltd., began that country’s version of a chapter 11 restructuring, court filings said. The U.S. companies, which have about 95 employees in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, have lined up $10 million in financing, including $4 million immediately, from lenders that include Riverstone Credit Partners – Direct LP to keep operating during bankruptcy, court papers said. The restructuring-support agreement has been unanimously accepted by each holder entitled to vote on the plan, Elk’s lawyers said, namely creditors in its revolving credit facility and its first-lien credit agreement, which includes Riverstone. The bankrupt companies’ debts include $114 million owed under a secured term loan and $14.5 million owed under a secured revolving loan facility, as well as $29.2 million owed to BP Energy Co. under a secured agreement to hedge prices.

A Novelion Therapeutics Inc. subsidiary that pled guilty in 2017 to illegally marketing a cholesterol drug has filed for chapter 11 protection with a deal in hand to sell the business to Dublin-based Amryt Pharma PLC, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc., maker of the drug Juxtapid, filed for bankruptcy Monday in New York proposing to recapitalize about $414 million in outstanding debt and deliver the business to Amryt. Aegerion said that it will continue to make Juxtapid and its other drug, Myalept, available to patients while in chapter 11 and continue paying ordinary business expenses. Novelion said the restructuring deal followed an extensive marketing process led by outside advisers. The proposal, which must be approved by a bankruptcy judge, has support from holders of more than two-thirds of Aegerion’s 2019 bonds and backing from other debt holders, the company said. Under the deal, Amryt intends to raise $60 million in new money through an equity raise. Novelion, meanwhile, will hold a 10 percent stake in Aegerion after it leaves chapter 11 in exchange for forgiving about $36 million it loaned its subsidiary. Aegerion expects to emerge from chapter 11 on or around Oct. 17, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Hilltop Energy LLC, a money-losing Texas oil and gas drilling company, filed for bankruptcy Thursday with a “prepackaged” plan that hands ownership to Dallas-based Rivershore Operating LLC and bondholder J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Hilltop, whose roots go back to failed oil company Cubic Energy Inc., filed for chapter 11 after years of red ink left the company unable to cover its expenses, according to papers filed in U.S Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The company has been servicing most of its debt by paying interest in the form of issuing additional notes, but given the anticipated decline in revenue, the company wouldn’t likely be able to pay off its debt set to mature in 2021, said manager Claude A. Pupkin in court filings. Hilltop has no employees, and its oil and gas properties are managed and operated by Rivershore, an affiliate of Dallas-based energy company Rivershore Resources. Hilltop’s predecessor company, Cubic Energy, filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Cubic emerged from bankruptcy in 2016 under the control of a group of bondholders led by funds managed by Anchorage Capital Group LLC. Read more. 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Plagued by litigation, liens and millions of dollars in lingering debts, The Aspen Club & Spa (Colo.) filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday in Denver, the Aspen Times reported. The move will allow the company to sort out its debts through the bankruptcy court while remaining solvent, said Michael Fox, Aspen Club president. The bankruptcy is the latest in a series of financial red flags for The Aspen Club & Spa, which embarked on a major redevelopment project at its 1450 Ute Ave. location in the spring of 2017. Work on the project — including a remodel of the 40,000-square-foot Aspen Club & Spa building, the construction of a 54,000-square-foot lodge with 20 timeshares, and 12 multi-family affordable-housing units — came to a near halt in August 2017 when subcontractors abandoned the site because they were owed money for labor and materials. With no more than $50,000 in assets, the company’s filing shows a litany of six-, seven- and eight-figure debts. The largest one, $33.9 million, is owed to GPIF Aspen Club LLC, which acquired a $45 million loan note from the original lender, FirstBank, in December 2017.

EdgeMarc Energy Holdings LLC filed for bankruptcy yesterday, saying that a pipeline explosion last year has disrupted production and made it unable to meet its obligations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Canonsburg, Pa.-based natural gas fracker said it has lined up $108 million in financing from KeyBank, its main existing lender, to help it get through chapter 11 while it looks for a buyer. The majority of EdgeMarc’s LLC units are owned by the private-equity arms of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, according to a declaration filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., EdgeMarc drills for natural gas in the Appalachian Basin, with 60 wells concentrated in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations. The company has about $77.79 million outstanding under a secured revolving credit facility and no other funded debt, according to court papers. Read more. 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Oilfield services provider Weatherford International Plc, burdened by a heavy debt load and years of losses, said on Friday that it would file for chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported. The company, which at its peak was valued at more than $50 billion, never recovered from the 2014 oil price collapse. Efforts under Chief Executive Officer Mark McCollum to quickly sell assets and pare debt struggled. Weatherford expects to reduce its long-term debt by more than $5.8 billion, through the restructuring. Weatherford’s shares plunged 61 percent to 14 cents in extended trading on Friday after the company reported the plan to seek protection from creditors and a wider quarterly loss. For the period ended March 31, it posted a loss of $481 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with a loss of $245 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell 5.4 percent to $1.35 billion. Rising losses had left Weatherford without access to suitable financing and sparked the departure of key employees, it said in a securities filing. It failed to hit first quarter cost reduction targets due to “market headwinds” and difficulties cutting its manufacturing operations, it said.