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Las Vegas Monorail Co., a transit system financed with municipal debt that serves some of the city’s marquee hotels, filed for bankruptcy for the second time in just over a decade after the coronavirus pandemic shut down service, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The nonprofit transit system is proposing a quick bankruptcy sale to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for about $24 million, a fraction of the roughly $650 million cost of construction, according to papers filed on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas. The bulk of the purchase price — roughly $22 million — would cover the monorail’s debt, held entirely by municipal-bond investor Preston Hollow Capital LLC. The monorail, which opened in 2004, filed for bankruptcy for the first time in 2010 after ridership fell short of expectations. The previous bankruptcy wiped out most of the project’s debt, over $600 million in tax-exempt bonds sold in 2000.

Trade shows and exhibitions that were shut down by the pandemic are now cautiously relaunching in Europe in a dress rehearsal for what show organizers hope will be a broader resumption of fairs next year, the Wall Street Journal reported. But judging by the shows that are beginning to take place, the pandemic has brought about lasting changes to a format that has hardly evolved over decades and organizers are rushing to adapt the shows to ensure their survival in a different form. This year’s shows in Europe, often combining a limited physical event with an online component, are unlikely to be highly profitable. But organizers say they will serve to test what works and what doesn’t ahead of next year, when they expect some economic normalcy to return and some travel restrictions to be lifted, even as the coronavirus continues to loom. “One thing is for certain; there will be hybrid trade shows in the future that will take place in the real world but will also be bolstered by digital media,” said Ernst Kick, chief executive of Spielwarenmesse eG, which organizes an annual toy fair in Nuremberg, Germany. The stakes are high not just for organizers and participants, but for hotels and restaurants across Europe’s cities that have come to depend on fairs for a large share of their business.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is enticing risk-hungry stock investors to gamble on its recovery as the cinema chain continues its efforts to avoid bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC on Wednesday launched efforts to raise up to $180 million in equity capital, even though credit investors are valuing some of its bonds at roughly 40 cents on the dollar, implying serious doubts about whether they will be fully repaid. The coronavirus pandemic has walloped AMC’s business, forcing the company into restructuring talks with key creditors. A rescue deal in July supplied AMC with $300 million in financing and a reduction in debt, yet the company continues to burn through up to $100 million a month, due in part to restrictions in many states and countries to limit theater occupancy to 50 percent or less, according to analysts who track the company. AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said the company is “just thinking ahead and being smart” while touting the threefold increase in AMC stock since it hit its low point of the year at $2.08 in April. Since the onset of the pandemic forced AMC to shut down its more than 1,000 theaters world-wide, the company has executed a series of financial engineering moves designed to help shore up its balance sheet.

Theme park operators who spent months installing hand sanitizing stations, figuring out how to disinfect roller coasters seats and checking the temperatures of guests at their gates so they’d come back in the midst of the pandemic are finding many reluctant to return, the Associated Press reported. Some parks have reduced operating days, slashed ticket prices, and closed early for the year because of lower-than-hoped attendance — expectations weren’t high to begin with — along with the uncertainty of what’s to come with the coronavirus. A few parks have been unable to open their gates at all because of state and local health restrictions. Disney this week will begin cutting an hour or two out of each day at its four Florida theme parks. It already called off its annual after-hours Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. Neighboring Universal Orlando also nixed its Halloween Horror Nights. Amusement parks across the South that had their seasons delayed by virus outbreaks in the spring deal with a second punch with the summer flareups across the Sun Belt. Some, including Kings Dominion in Virginia and Carowinds in North Carolina, never opened and won’t this year. Cedar Fair Entertainment, which operates those two, has reopened just half of its 13 amusement parks and water parks across North America.

Casino operator MGM Resorts International informed its staff on Friday that it would lay off 18,000 furloughed employees in the U.S. as the coronavirus-induced travel curbs hurt its operations, Reuters reported. The company will start the process today, according to a letter from Chief Executive Officer Bill Hornbuckle to employees and seen by Reuters. MGM employed nearly 52,000 fulltime and 18,000 part-time people in the U.S. as of Dec. 31. “Federal law requires companies to provide a date of separation for furloughed employees who are not recalled within six months. Regrettably, August 31, marks (that) date,” Hornbuckle said in the letter. MGM was forced to close all of its casinos and furlough about 62,000 of its workforce in the United States in March due to the lockdowns. It brought back tens of thousands of employees when many of its casinos opened for business as the restrictions eased, but it still had to leave out 18,000 of them.

The company that operates the Trump International Hotel in Vancouver said on Friday that it has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the coronavirus pandemic for lost revenue and financial hardship, Reuters reported. TA Hotel Management Ltd Partnership (TAHMLP), a unit of Malaysia-based TA Global Bhd, said that the temporary closure since March due to COVID-19 impacted the hotel’s business. Vancouver-based developer Holborn Group, which owns the tower, licensed the Trump name for the project under a 2013 agreement. The 69-story luxury hotel in downtown Vancouver opened in 2017 amid protests against U.S. President Donald Trump. “Its ongoing expenses since the outbreak of COVID-19 and lack of revenue has placed TAHMLP into a position of insolvency,” a statement on the company website said. Documents filed in Canada on Thursday showed that TA Hotel Management Ltd Partnership owes C$4.79 million ($3.66 million) and has total assets of C$1.1 million. TA Hotel Management leased the hotel premises and operated it, according to the statement.

Lenders to Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group won control of the company in a court-supervised restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The bid by the creditors’ group, which represents holders of about $760 million in Cirque debt and includes Toronto-based Catalyst Capital Group Inc., must still receive the approval of a Canadian court. Lenders are planning to inject $375 million of new capital into the Montreal-based company to restart its shows. Under the proposal, first-lien creditors, owed more than $900 million as of March 31, wind up with virtually all of the equity. “The offer made by our secured lenders is a clear recognition of our iconic brand and of the current management team,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lamarre said in an email. “We are focusing on the relaunch of our shows and look forward to moving the organization forward with the prospect of returning to a profitable situation.” Cirque shareholders including TPG, China’s Fosun International Ltd. and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec will see their investment wiped out under the creditors’ plan. TPG bought a majority stake in 2015.

Quebec’s pension fund said it spent $75 million in February to double its stake in Cirque du Soleil Entertainment, an investment it was forced to write off in June when the company filed for bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec’s decision to buy an additional 10 percent of the live performance company from founder Guy Laliberte came after months of discussions with shareholders, Caisse Chief Executive Officer Charles Emond said Monday. The fund spent $71 million for its initial 10 percent stake in 2015, he told a panel of lawmakers in Quebec City. Neither amount had been previously disclosed. “With the additional 10 percent we suddenly had more rights about being consulted, having a weight, a greater influence” on debt levels and future shareholders, Emond said. Montreal-based Caisse said this month it wrote off its entire $170 million investment in Cirque, which includes some debt, after the coronavirus forced it to shut down all its shows around the globe. The company is recapitalizing under court protection, with a deadline for bids set for tomorrow. A committee of creditors has the leading bid so far.

AMC Theatres, the nation’s largest movie theater chain, will reopen in the U.S. on Aug. 20 with retro ticket prices of 15 cents per movie, the Associated Press reported. AMC Entertainment, which owns the chain, said yesterday that it expects to open the doors to more than 100 cinemas — or about a sixth of its nationwide locations — on Aug. 20 with throwback pricing for a day. AMC theaters have reopened in numerous international countries but have remained shuttered in the U.S. since March. The chain touted the reopening as “Movies in 2020 at 1920 Prices.” After several false starts due to a summer rise in coronavirus cases throughout much of the U.S., widespread moviegoing is currently set to resume in late August. Regal Cinemas, the second largest chain, is to reopen some U.S. locations on Aug. 21.