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Credit firms including Caspian Capital and Oaktree Capital Management are considering providing new financing to business travel company CWT as the firm engages in restructuring talks, Bloomberg News reported. Early talks between Caspian, Oaktree and other potential capital providers have been around ways to assist a group of third-lien bondholders in discussions with the company, the people said. The firms haven’t lent CWT money or otherwise built a position in its debt, but are weighing participating in new financing for the company. No formal offer has been made and any decision will depend in part on the company’s recent financial performance. CWT, which shortened its name from Carlson Wagonlit Travel in 2019, entered into formal talks with creditors after it skipped June 15 interest payments on its bonds, Bloomberg reported. The missed coupons started the clock on a 30-day grace period, and the company is using that time to try to reach a restructuring deal. Privately held CWT coordinates business travel, meetings and events for companies. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it handled around 100 meetings and events daily and corresponded with about 60,000 travelers, according to its website. The Minneapolis-based company has around 15,000 employees and was founded in 1994 through a combination of two travel agencies.

A joint venture between Blackstone Group Inc. and Starwood Capital Group is financing its acquisition of Extended Stay America Inc. via a massive commercial mortgage-backed securities offering this week, one of the largest single-loan CMBS deals in a decade, Bloomberg News reported. The $4.65 billion so-called single-asset, single-borrower (SASB) CMBS securitizes a loan originated by JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank to fund most of Blackstone and Starwood’s roughly $6 billion acquisition of Extended Stay’s 560 hotels located throughout 40 states. Extended Stay’s shareholders approved the bid on June 11 to purchase the company at $20.50 per share. The portfolio of hotels comprises 62,257 guest rooms, according to a presale report from Fitch Ratings, who along with Moody’s Investors Service and Kroll Bond Ratings assigned AAA ratings to the two senior tranches of the structure. The deal is carved into slices offering investors different levels of risk, though only Kroll rated the tranches below BBB-, with the lowest-ranked rated single-B. The Extended Stay CMBS is the first SASB deal tied to hotels in nearly a year. Only Blackstone’s $5.6 billion industry-property CMBS debt sale from October 2019 is larger, at least for deals issued since the Great Financial Crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Hertz Corp. is tapping the asset-backed securities market this week with its first full-term rental-car securitization since November 2019, part of its emergence from chapter 11 protection, Bloomberg News reported. Proceeds from its inaugural post-bankruptcy ABS will be used to finance the purchase of new vehicles to be leased to Hertz under a so-called master lease agreement. It will also be used to refinance both its original pre-bankruptcy legacy fleet-financing facility, as well as a $4 billion interim facility established last November with Athene USA Corp., an affiliate of Apollo Capital Management Inc., as a stepping stone toward an ABS transaction. The total $2.2 billion offering, composed of two bond series, is expected to meet strong demand from investors who have a renewed confidence in the rental-car sector as travel picks up post-pandemic. The deal will likely satisfy yield-hungry investors, market observers say, as risk premiums at price talk are relatively wide compared to other recent rental-car ABS from issuers such as Avis Budget Group Inc.

Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corp., the California theater chain that shut down because of the pandemic, said it filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and plans to liquidate, a big loss for film fans on the movie industry’s home turf, Bloomberg News reported. The action Friday by the company, which also operates the ArcLight chain, follows an announcement in April that the company wouldn’t reopen after a yearlong closing caused by coronavirus restrictions. “Having taken steps to wind down the business, the company today is seeking protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in order to liquidate its remaining assets for the benefit of its creditors,” a spokesman said in an emailed statement. There is still a chance some of the locations could reopen. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the largest global movie chain, has held acquisition talks with Pacific, according to AMC Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron. Earlier this week, two of Pacific’s venues in Los Angeles appeared on AMC’s mobile app but then vanished. Neither company commented on whether they were merging.

Companies in certain industries received more auditor warnings about their ability to stay afloat over the past year, compared with the previous period, as the coronavirus pandemic put finance chiefs and balance sheets under pressure, the Wall Street Journal reported. These warnings, also called going-concern opinions, are published in the annual reports of public companies and refer to their likelihood to remain in business for the next 12 months. Executives in the spring of 2020 rushed to preserve liquidity, often by slashing jobs, cutting costs, and halting dividends and share repurchases. Some industries — such as e-commerce, technology and food retail — managed to navigate lockdown orders and restrictions, while others, including airlines and oil companies, suffered big losses. Recurring losses, alongside issues such as negative cash flow and inability to pay suppliers, usually trigger going-concern opinions. Rental-car company Hertz Global Holdings Inc., restaurant and entertainment firm Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. and cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. were among the companies that issued such notices last year. Hertz filed for bankruptcy about two weeks after disclosing a warning, but Dave & Buster’s and Norwegian didn’t. Truck startup Lordstown Motors Corp. earlier this month said it might not have enough cash to start production, which triggered a management reshuffle. Even though going-concern filings at U.S. public companies overall declined during the 12 months ended May 31, they rose in certain industries, such as real estate and transportation.

CWT, one of the world’s largest business travel managers, skipped a debt payment as it begins negotiating with creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The privately-held company, which was known as Carlson Wagonlit Travel prior to a 2019 rebrand, told its investors on Wednesday that it didn’t pay interest on its $250 million third-lien notes due 2026. The bonds pay 9.5% cash and 2% in-kind. The missed coupon payment, which was due June 15, starts the clock on a 30-day grace period before a formal default. CWT is seeking to reach a deal with creditors to rework its debts in that time, the people said, though forbearance could be granted to allow talks to continue. CWT and its bond investors are discussing options including swapping debt for equity to help the company boost its liquidity as business travel begins to resume, the people said. Certain creditors have chosen to restrict their trading and begin formal talks with the company, while others are planning to sign non-disclosure agreements in the coming days, they added. Company's bonds slip back to trade at a discount
Representatives for CWT didn’t return messages seeking comment. Reorg previously reported that the company’s creditors were preparing for debt talks.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge has upheld court decisions that the state of Montana lacked legal standing to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition nearly a decade ago against Yellowstone Club co-founder Tim Blixseth, the Associated Press reported. Judge Mike N. Nakagawa of Nevada on June 3 confirmed the ruling by previous judges to dismiss the involuntary petition, noting the case has lingered for nearly 10 years. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in 2019 the Montana Department of Revenue (MDOR) lacked legal standing to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Blixseth and referred the case to bankruptcy court to see if it should be dismissed. The Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort in Big Sky founded by Blixseth and his now ex-wife in 1997, filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Blixseth was accused of pocketing much of a $375 million Credit Suisse loan to the resort and later gave up control of the enterprise to his ex-wife during their 2008 divorce. The club, which has touted billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former Vice President Dan Quayle as members, has emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership. The Montana Department of Revenue had done an audit of Blixseth and in 2009 said he owed $56.8 million in taxes, penalties and interest arising from eight audit issues, court documents stated. The Montana action against Blixseth is separate from Blixseth’s claims against Montana in Nevada for damages due to the involuntary petition.