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Women's retailer Joyce Leslie Inc. has filed for bankruptcy with plans to liquidate if it can't find a buyer after grappling with declining sales in recent years, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The New Jersey-based retailer, which filed for chapter 11 protection on Saturday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., said that changing consumer spending patterns, in addition to its "inability to compete in today's technology-driven environment due to the lack of a sophisticated e-commerce platform" led to its downfall. Joyce Leslie hired SB Capital Group LLC, Tiger Capital Group LLC and 360 Merchant Solutions LLC to assist in liquidating its stores, with store-closing sales slated to begin in February if it can't find a buyer through a bankruptcy auction.

Arch Coal Inc., the second-largest coal miner in the U.S., and its domestic subsidiaries filed for chapter 11 protection to facilitate a restructuring with a group of lenders that hold more than 50 percent of its debt, Reuters reported today. Arch Coal said that it reached an agreement with its lenders that will eliminate more than $4.5 billion in debt from the company's balance sheet. Arch Coal is the fourth coal miner, after Walter Energy Inc., Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and Patriot Coal, to file for bankruptcy. The Missouri-based company was widely expected to go bankrupt after delaying a $90 million interest payment due in December last year.

An invention company that accused a Mitsubishi affiliate of stealing one of its semiconductor designs more than a decade ago has filed for bankruptcy, saying its debts could top the amount the company agreed to pay in a recent settlement, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The inventor, Grail Semiconductor Inc., said in bankruptcy-court documents that it has settled its 2007 lawsuit against Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc., over the semiconductor design but declined to state how much money it expects to receive. The two sides settled their long-running dispute in October on the eve of a trial to determine a damage amount, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento, Calif. In 2012, a jury awarded Grail Semiconductor nearly $124 million in damages, though a judge later called for a new trial to revisit that amount.

Embattled brokerage firm RCS Capital Corp. plans to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under a prearranged filing intended to allow RCS to focus on its retail advice unit Cetera Financial Group, the Wall Street Journal reported today. RCS said that its lenders have agreed in principle to invest $150 million in new working capital into Cetera. The company said that it expects debt reduction and the elimination of preferred stock will total more than $500 million. Just over a month ago, RCS said that it would wind down its wholesale distribution business as part of a $3 million settlement with Massachusetts securities regulators over its use of fake proxy votes. The company has been working to raise capital and sell assets in the wake of a collapsed deal for Apollo Global Management LLC to buy a controlling stake in a group of trusts and other funds with $19 billion in real-estate holdings from RCS founder Nicholas Schorsch.

The oil price collapse put Swift Energy Co. into bankruptcy in the last hours of 2015, with a deal to sell some assets and an agreement with some bondholders, but no guarantees either will be enough to see the company through tough times, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The Dec. 31 filing capped months of struggles to address a debt load that tops $1.2 billion in a climate that has lenders retreating from energy companies. It came as the grace period expired on a missed Dec. 1 interest payment with bondholders that had been engaged in talks with Swift, one of dozens of oil industry players trying to survive the oil price crush. Just before the bankruptcy filing, Swift reached a deal to sell some of its Louisiana holdings to Texegy LLC at a "favorable price," but the money won't be enough to get the company through, court papers say. As for the bankruptcy turnaround plan, it has backing from a committee representing holders of about half its bond debt, court papers say. Those papers reveal Swift and the bondholders still have to come to terms on how to pay off $330 million in top-ranking bank debt, court papers say. Read more. 

For background on oil and gas company bankruptcy proceedings, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

Centennial, Colo.-based convenience store and gas station chain Western Convenience Stores Inc. has filed for chapter 11 protection, the Denver Business Journal reported yesterday. The company operates 43 locations throughout Colorado and Nebraska, and its bankruptcy filing stems in part from a dispute between Western and Kansas City-based Suncor Energy Inc., according to attorney Lee Kutner, of Kutner Brinen Garber, who is representing Western in its bankruptcy proceedings. Western owes Suncor $7 million, according to the bankruptcy documents, making Suncor Western's largest creditor. Other creditors include Offen Petroleum, owed $2.3 million, and High Plains Bank, owed $1.6 million.

A golf channel that briefly aired to DirecTV subscribers before shutting down in February has filed for bankruptcy with a $2 million offer for a small piece of its operations: a smartphone app that mapped out more than 35,000 golf courses around the world, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Officials who put Hartford, Conn.-based Back9Network Inc., into bankruptcy on Dec. 23 said that a handful of investors want to save the app and repay some of the channel’s debts, including a $4.75 million loan from Connecticut’s economic development agency. The channel, which aired briefly on DirecTV satellite network’s channel 262, said that it didn’t have enough money to get off the ground since its 2010 founding despite investors putting than $38 million to the company.

The RoomStore furniture chain has filed for bankruptcy protection as company officials project the longtime Phoenix retailer will lose about $2 million this year, the Arizona Republic reported today. Officials with The RoomStores of Phoenix LLC blamed losses on spillover from the 2008 housing crash and increased competition among furniture retailers. The company sent notices to employees last week warning of layoffs and store closures. Co-owner Alan Levitz did not specify what stores were slated for shuttering but advised in the letter that layoffs could begin in February. Levitz said if planned promotional sales were successful and if executives were able to negotiate with creditors, the company could "retain its existing footprint." He also said the majority of customers waiting on orders will get them.

New Gulf Resources has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Tulsa-based oil and natural gas company said on Thursday, the Oklahoman reported on Saturday. New Gulf filed a pre-arranged reorganization plan, including a restructuring support agreement with creditors representing more than 72 percent of the company’s second-lien notes and 22 percent of its subordinated notes. The creditors agreed to provide at least $125 million in new funding to help the company reorganize.

Homejoy Inc., a house cleaning and repairs start-up that hired David Hasselhoff to star in a commercial, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The chapter 11 case, filed on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, comes about five months after the company announced that it would be shutting down via a blog post on its website. The San Francisco venture-backed startup was founded by siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung in 2013 and allowed users to book home cleaning and repair services. Homejoy raised $38 million in venture funding from investors including Google Ventures, as well as First Round Capital, Redpoint Ventures and others. Until July, the company was offering $25-an-hour house cleaners in five countries, as well as expanding into home repairs and carpet cleaning.