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Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp., a producer of primary aluminum and rolled aluminum coils, filed for chapter 11 protection today and said that it will evaluate its various business operations, Reuters reported. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company said that challenging market conditions for the aluminum industry and recent disruptions in its primary business operations led to the decision. Noranda listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion. The company and its subsidiaries also entered into an agreement in principle with its existing asset-based loan lenders for up to $130 million in debtor-in-possession financing.

Hancock Fabrics Inc. filed for its second bankruptcy yesterday and said that it might put the entire company of 250 retail sewing and crafting stores up for sale, Reuters reported. The company said that the chapter 11 filing would allow it to restructure its balance sheet, cut costs, close underperforming stores and access liquidity. Hancock said that it had assets of about $151.4 million and liabilities of $182.1 million, according to court documents. The company previously filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007 and emerged a year later. The case is Hancock Fabrics Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 16-10296.

Electronic music concert producer SFX Entertainment Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday to execute a deal that wipes $300 million in debt from its balance sheet and takes the company private, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal, a debt-for-equity swap with bondholders, provides $115 million in bankruptcy financing to allow the company to continue normal operations during the bankruptcy case. The deal will also usher in a new chief executive, to succeed current CEO and Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman. SFX’s bankruptcy filing comes weeks after the company skipped a $3 million interest payment to bondholders, who quickly declared the company in default on the $5.8 million balance of the bond. The company’s $220 million in senior bond debt and $30 million revolving credit facility each contained cross-default provisions, but neither investor group declared a default at that time. In the days that followed, SFX announced $20 million in fresh financing that allowed the company to continue negotiating with debtholders.

RCS Capital Corp, a brokerage firm tied to real-estate investor Nicholas Schorsch, filed for chapter 11 protection to reduce debt and as per the plan its key lenders will assume control of the company, Reuters reported today. The company listed total assets of $1.98 billion and debts of $1.39 billion, on a consolidated basis, in its bankruptcy filing. RCS Capital said in early January that it planned a voluntary bankruptcy filing to improve its capital structure by eliminating certain non-core assets and liabilities and to focus on its retail advice division, Cetera Financial Group. The company also reached an agreement at that time with its key stakeholders for a new investment of $150 million in Cetera. RCS Capital, however, said that Cetera's current employees, advisers and trade vendors will not be affected by its bankruptcy.

The operator of 13 nursing homes in Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio got permission from a bankruptcy judge to spend restricted money while its lawyers come up with a survival plan, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. With his signed court order, Bankruptcy Judge Nicholas W. Whittenburg approved the spending request from New Beginnings Healthcare & Rehab LLC officials. The Hixton, Tenn.-based company sought bankruptcy protection on Jan. 22. The nursing-home operator, which employs about 1,300 people, blamed its financial troubles on Georgia health regulators who have withheld Medicaid money that pays for some of the 800 residents at its nursing homes. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

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Biomedical company Nuo Therapeutics Inc., which makes a gel to treat skin ulcers, filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell its assets to health care-focused hedge fund Deerfield Management, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. The Maryland company, which filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., said that it expects Deerfield to serve as the stalking-horse bidder for its assets at a bankruptcy-court-supervised auction. Those assets include the company's flagship, Aurix, a "hematogel" that uses a patient's own platelets and plasma as a catalyst for healing. It is the only therapy of its kind cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for use for the treatment of a variety of ulcers and wounds, according to David E. Jorden, the company's acting chief executive.

Paper manufacturer Verso Corp. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, its business battered by the turn to online channels that drove down demand for its products, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Verso President and Chief Executive David J. Paterson said that the company has worked “to develop a restructuring plan to eliminate $2.4 billion of our outstanding debt” and exit bankruptcy proceedings “in a short time frame.” Memphis, Tenn.-based Verso has been trying to work out a restructuring of its overloaded balance sheet. The maker of coated paper used in magazines and catalogs is carrying more than $2.8 billion in debt and paying interest of more than $270 million annually.

Yellow Cab Cooperative Inc., San Francisco’s largest taxi company, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, the latest in string of traditional taxi companies to turn to chapter 11 amid the rapid rise of ride-hailing rivals like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported today. Pamela Martinez, the co-op’s president, said in court papers that her company faced a host of challenges, including a high number of accidents-related claims and liabilities, a steep decline in ridership and competition from newer app-based ride-sharing services, namely Uber and Lyft, which have also increasingly poached Yellow Cab drivers. In June, a jury awarded $8.1 million to a woman who was partially paralyzed in a Yellow Cab accident, court paper show, and the company said it faces some 150 open claims valued as high as $10 million.

EZ Worldwide Express, which delivers shipments for retailers like Amazon.com Inc., Forever 21 Inc. and the Disney Store, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming a disappointing holiday season that it said “fell far short” of expectations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Executives who put the 700-worker company into bankruptcy this week said that they were caught off guard by the slow business in the fourth quarter, when the company typically takes in 40 percent of its yearly revenue. The Elizabeth, N.J.-based company, which had invested $12 million in trucks and facilities in a recent expansion, ran low on money, President Ajay Aggarwal said in court documents. Amid the trouble, the company withdrew too much money from a bank account in November.