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Auto Plus, an auto-parts distributor owned by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn ‘s investment firm, has filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell itself in chapter 11 after racking up heavy losses, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Kennesaw, Georgia-based Auto Plus, which filed for chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas, said Wednesday it had a loss before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization of $153 million in fiscal 2021, partly because of high lease and labor costs tied to too many store locations. The company has $189 million in funded debt, court papers show. Icahn Enterprises LP said Tuesday that it had attempted to turn around the business by lending Auto Plus significant amounts of money but the company continued to record losses. The firm said it was disappointed in its investments in Auto Plus, adding it has “determined that it would no longer be prudent to continue to loan money to Auto Plus at this juncture” unless it was part of a bankruptcy. Chief Executive Michael Neyrey said in a sworn declaration that Auto Plus has inventory valued at about $529 million, but its products are old and not the popular types that draw customer orders. The company is an aftermarket auto-parts distributor, selling replacement parts for various makes and models.

Cleveland Integrity Services, a provider of inspection services to oil and gas pipelines, filed for bankruptcy on Monday, citing the impact of a decline in capital spending at midstream oil-and-gas companies that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Based in Cleveland, Okla., the company said in court filings that it had struggled to recover from a drying-up in capital spending at oil-and-gas companies that began in 2020. It currently has around $160 million in debt in a single term loan mostly held by Owl Rock Capital Corp., now the leading bidder to buy the company out of bankruptcy, according to court papers and public filings. Owl Rock has offered to forgive $30 million in debt to acquire the business, which is owned by private-equity firm First Reserve Corp. Any restructuring deal would require bankruptcy court approval to take effect and could be subject to competing bids. Despite the rebound in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Cleveland Integrity’s customer spending and demand haven’t returned to their pre-2020 levels, Matt Kesner, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a declaration to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. The company has also faced a number of lawsuits that allege it underpaid its pipeline inspectors, some of which have been settled out of court. The increase in litigation-related costs hit the company at the same time it was coping with a decline in its business, according to court papers.

Many FTX customers in Asia and Europe are navigating the company’s complex bankruptcy proceedings on their own, pitting them against a convoluted corner of the U.S. legal system in a language many don’t speak, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. FTX built an international customer base by making crypto trading easily accessible on its app in more than a dozen languages. Now overseas traders are forced to take a crash course in esoteric chapter 11 proceedings and sift through nearly 600 court filings in English to glean what might become of their accounts. In most corporate bankruptcies, creditors are financial firms well versed in chapter 11. But FTX’s customers include many retail investors who have never dealt with chapter 11 before and don’t have the resources to hire legal help. Some non-English-speaking FTX customers try to bridge the gap with translation apps and by banding together on social media. Others rely on their lawyers to translate court documents, attempting to figure out how much they might get for their accounts. The language barrier compounds the difficult task of making accessible voluminous chapter 11 filings, leaving international customers largely in the dark. The barriers to understanding FTX’s bankruptcy have made it harder for depositors to determine their best course of action, whether they should sell their accounts now at a deep discount or hold on for potentially more money. Non-English-speaking customers may also be more likely to be shut out of a process that will determine how much money they get back because they are less likely to vote on a future bankruptcy repayment plan due to the lack of understanding.

A Tampa, Fla.-based food hall operator has filed for chapter 11 protection to reorganize the debt on an Orlando location, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported. Jamal Wilson, who launched his food halls with The Hall on Franklin in 2017, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal on Wednesday that he is reorganizing his debt "due to high construction costs" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilson's Orlando location, The Hall at the Yard, opened in 2021. The bankruptcy filing will not affect day-to-day operations at The Hall at the Yard, Wilsons said, and he doesn't plan to file for bankruptcy protection for any other locations. "The cost of the tenant improvements was higher than expected," according to the bankruptcy filing. "Unfortunately, the debtor borrowed funds from various MCA lenders. The debt to the MCA lenders and the exorbitant fees and costs associated therewith has been crippling. The debtor filed this case to restructure its debts and reorganize for the benefit of all creditors." The filing lists 10 MCA lenders who are owed a combined $901,055, though the amount owed to G and G Funding Group LLC is unidentified. The lenders are owed amounts ranging from $44,000 to $181,000. Secured debt also includes a $4.2 million loan to Newtek Small Business Finance. There is also a $359,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan from Kabbage LLC that is "likely unsecured," according to the filing. The largest unsecured creditors have claims that range from unknown to $119,000.

Heritage Power LLC, a power-plant operator owned by GenOn Holdings LLC filed for bankruptcy with a lender backed-plan to trim debt from its balance sheet, saying its business has struggled because of low electricity prices and operational problems during extreme winter weather last month, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Heritage said in papers filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston that it has struck a deal with its owner, GenOn, and its lenders on a chapter 11 plan to either restructure $686 million in debt or explore selling its assets. The agreement is backed by lenders that own 80% of its $485 million in outstanding term loans, according to court documents. The bankruptcy marks the second time Heritage power plants have passed through chapter 11 since 2017. Heritage and its affiliates were part of the earlier bankruptcy of GenOn, which emerged from chapter 11 in December 2018. GenOn employees manage Heritage, which operates more than a dozen oil- and natural-gas-fired power plants in three states. Heritage President David Freysinge said GenOn formed the companies involved in the current bankruptcy in 2019 to separately own and operate the power plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Heritage sells its power to PJM Interconnection LLC, which operates a power grid serving roughly 65 million customers across 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Developer AD1 Global Hotels LLC put eight Florida properties using Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG brands under bankruptcy protection, blaming rising interest rates, Hurricane Nicole and allegedly unreasonable demands by lender HPS Investment Partners LLC, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Hollywood, Fla.-based parent company of the hotels isn’t part of the bankruptcy. It plans to seek an equity investor for the properties, and potentially refinance their debt and sell assets. The bankruptcy filing covers eight newly constructed or renovated properties that owe $165 million to HPS Investment Partners, according to a filing Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. AD1’s chief operating officer, Alex Fridzon, said in a declaration in bankruptcy court the portfolio of properties has been valued at $210.5 million to $262 million. AD1’s portfolio has more than 25 properties. Roughly a third, with a total of more than 1,200 rooms, are part of the bankruptcy case.

Rockley Photonics Holdings Ltd., which makes microchips that can be used in wearable health monitoring devices, filed for bankruptcy with a creditor-backed plan that will hand control of the business to bondholders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Publicly traded Rockley said in court papers filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that it has won support for a chapter 11 plan of reorganization under which bondholders who are owed roughly $119 million will forgive that debt in exchange for equity in the reorganized business. Bondholders also agreed to provide Rockley with $35 million in new financing in the form of a chapter 11 exit loan and private placement agreement offering bondholders the right to purchase an additional $20 million of the reorganized company’s stock. Rockley said the restructuring plan was negotiated and agreed to following a monthslong marketing process spearheaded by the company’s investment banker, Jefferies LLC. Rockley said that although it has developed groundbreaking silicon photonics chips that can be used in wearable health monitoring devices, the company has yet to bring any products to market. The company said it is working with other businesses on specific designs for its chips and it has shipped some early prototypes, anticipating the chips will ultimately be used in wearable health monitoring devices. President and Chief Executive Richard Meier said in a sworn statement that Rockley recorded net losses of $117 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30. Mr. Meier said the chapter 11 plan is a significant achievement given Rockley’s liquidity issues and added the restructuring should ensure the company’s long-term viability.

Top Home Care Agency LLC has filed for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported. The Pittsburgh-based home health care agency made the filing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, with liabilities between $500,000 and $1 million and assets under $50,000. The biggest unclaimed creditor is the Internal Revenue Service, with tax liens of $500,000 reported in the filing. Other tax liens in the filing include $190,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and $66,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Other unsecured creditors in the filing include Biz 2 Credit for $70,000 and $24,050 in disputed back rent. A hearing on the bankruptcy case in front of Judge Carlota M. Bohm has been scheduled for Thursday.

Party City Holdco Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, making it the latest casualty in the U.S. retail industry as persistently high inflation takes a toll on consumer spending, Reuters reported. Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Party City said it had reached a pre-negotiated agreement with a bondholder group to support an "expedited restructuring" that is expected to be completed in the second quarter. It reported $1 billion to $10 billion of estimated assets and liabilities, and said it had obtained $150 million in debtor-in-possession financing to support its operations. The party supplies retailer's fortunes have dwindled since the COVID-19 pandemic as it wrestled with slowing sales due to lockdowns and store closures, along with inventory shortages and tight supplies of helium due to global supply chain disruptions. The company, which operates more than 800 company-owned and franchise stores throughout North America, also battled higher freight, labor and raw materials costs as it pulled forward shipping timelines to ensure enough products on its shelves. Its subsidiaries outside of the United States, its franchise stores, and its Anagram business were not part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the company said, adding that its stores would continue to remain open.

GigaMonster Networks LLC, a high-speed internet provider backed by investment firm Barings LLC, filed for chapter 11 protection, aiming to sell itself under bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Marietta, Ga.-based company specializes in deploying high-speed internet services to multifamily and commercial buildings. It sought chapter 11 protection on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., after having struggled to quickly expand the company through acquisitions, according to the court filing. “Growth was slower than anticipated, and the company did not generate revenues sufficient to offset the drain on cash” to cover the fixed costs, said Rian Branning, the company’s chief restructuring officer, in the filing. GigaMonster started as Kubix LLC, a Florida limited liability company founded in 2013, and was changed to the current name the following year. The company contracts with property owners to set up high-speed internet networks for the Internet of Things, including smart lighting, security systems, door locks and thermostats. It also provides internet services to subscribers in those buildings. In 2019, Barings Asset-Based Income Fund (U.S.) LP became the majority investor. But the company’s growth has been limited, and it currently contracts with about 400 properties and about 35,000 internet subscribers. GigaMonster’s net operating loss was about $22 million on revenue of about $18.8 million in 2021, according to a filing. The condition didn’t improve in 2022 and, as of October, it reported a net loss of about $22.5 million, the filing said. The company had about $44 million in debt as of the petition date, according to court papers.