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Ocean City Brewing Company in Maryland filed for bankruptcy late last year, and a public auction of its equipment was recently announced, signaling a no-go for a new brewery at the Coastal Highway location, DelMarVaNow.com reported. Fermentation tanks, a 30 barrel brewhouse, a keg washer and a myriad of other brewing and kitchen equipment will be liquidated Feb. 19 to fulfill over half a million dollars in legal claims. Every piece of equipment not affixed to the building at 5509 Coastal Highway will be sold, and the auction is a trustee sale, according to Atlantic Auctions vice president and general manager Jack Levi. OC Brewing filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Nov. 8, court records show. The public auction will be held on behalf of multiple creditors filing claims against OC Brewing. Those claims total just over $530,000, court records show.

The planned sale of Sears Holdings Corp. to its chairman, Edward Lampert, is under fire from the U.S. government’s pension insurer over a $1.7 billion funding gap that the agency says should sink his efforts to buy out the chain, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. filed papers on Saturday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., in opposition to Lampert’s proposed $5.2 billion bid to purchase about 400 Sears and Kmart locations out of bankruptcy. The PGBC said on Jan. 18 it would assume responsibility for a pair of Sears defined-benefit pension plans, which cover 90,000 people and are 64 percent funded. Because the PBGC will make up the difference, it is the largest single unsecured creditor of Sears.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has been named the successful bidder at about half of the approximately 120 pharmacies at which bankrupt retailer Shopko auctioned off assets a few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. Agreements have been signed, or are in the process of being signed, that are expected to generate $52 million in pharmacy auction proceeds for Shopko, the company said on Saturday. A Walgreens spokesman said on Saturday that the company was pleased with the auction results and, pending the sales’ approval by the bankruptcy court, looks forward to welcoming Shopko customers to the chain’s pharmacies. A hearing to approve the sales to the successful bidders is expected to be held Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Omaha, Neb. An auction for Shopko’s pharmacy assets, including prescription inventories, records, customer lists and patient profiles, was held on Wednesday in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, one of the law firms representing the general-merchandise chain since it filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Edward Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. deployed stock buybacks, spinoffs and dividends to rake in billions of dollars while stripping the 126-year-old company of assets and cash, according to an investigation by the retailer’s creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a court filing challenging the planned sale of Sears to Lampert, the unsecured creditors' committee tracked what it claims was a deliberate strategy that began in 2005, shortly after the billionaire took charge of what was then a profitable company. They allege he spun out businesses and collected dividends, and that he made loans and collected interest and fees on them. Creditors want court permission to sue Lampert and his hedge fund. Lampert has repeatedly denied accusations that he steered Sears into ruin for his own benefit. When he made money selling off the company’s real estate and businesses, so did other shareholders, he has said.

Fees are continuing to pile up in the Sears bankruptcy, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the storied retail giant’s lead law firm, is under the spotlight, the American Lawyer reported. The firm caught the attention of the New York Post over a single paralegal’s busy month: 431 hours, billed at $405 per hour. That’s more than 14 hours for every day of the month. It’s also more than the billing rate for some partners at large firms. And it tops the rate earned by a number of attorneys, including shareholders, at McAndrews, Held & Malloy, the Chicago firm handling trademark issues for Sears in the Manhattan bankruptcy case. Still, the total billed by Weil’s paralegals in November—just over $500,000—is just a small sliver of the firm’s total November bill of over $10 million. The majority of that bill—$5.6 million—came from over 60 associates billing at rates between $560 and $975. Twenty-three partners and 10 Of Counsel attorneys, billing at between $1,600 and $1,025 an hour, combined to contribute $3.8 million in bills.

Children’s retailer Gymboree Group Inc. has filed for chapter 11 protection, joining a growing list of brick-and-mortar retailers trying to restructure their debt under court supervision, Reuters reported. Gymboree will close more stores following its second request for chapter 11 protection on Thursday. The company shuttered select stores and cut its debt by $900 million after emerging from its first bankruptcy in September 2017. The retailer has fallen victim to a shift in consumer spending patterns that prioritizes online shopping, which has forced more than 20 U.S. retailers to seek bankruptcy protection since the beginning of 2017. Gymboree has received commitments for up to $89 million in DIP financing to carry it through a prospective restructuring process that will involve selling its Janie and Jack-branded stores and closing a significant amount of the 900 Gymboree and Crazy 8-branded shops. The DIP package comprises US$30m in new money from Goldman Sachs affiliate Special Situations Investing Group (SSIG) and Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Holdings. The rest of the DIP financing is a roll-up of Gymboree’s obligations under its pre-petition term loan agreement. SSIG will also act as a stalking-horse bidder for the sale of Janie and Jack stores with a US$85m credit bid.

Things Remembered Inc., a U.S. retailer that sells engraved gifts and keepsakes, is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection in the coming days and shutter most of its roughly 400 stores, Reuters reported. The preparations show how a debt restructuring that Things Remembered underwent in 2016 was not enough to spare it from the wave of bankruptcies sweeping the brick-and-mortar retail sector amid the growing popularity of online shopping. The Highland Heights, Ohio-based company, which employs roughly 2,500 people in the U.S. and Canada, is hoping to sell its brand and online business during bankruptcy proceedings, an effort that would potentially preserve hundreds of jobs, one of the sources said. Things Remembered is also seeking buyers for some of its stores. 

David's Bridal, one of the largest wedding dress retailers nationally, announced on Friday that it had emerged from chapter 11 protection poised for long-term growth, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Pennsylvania company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, said that it successfully completed its financial restructuring without closing any of its 300 stores. David's Bridal, which started as a small bridal shop in Florida, has struggled to compete in recent years as millennials are marrying later and some opt for less traditional wedding attire as more casual ceremonies have come en vogue. The company said it planned to lure back customers by offering more affordable dresses in a wider assortment of sizes, both in-store and online. The retailer also said it would host special events with top wedding experts at its stores nationwide to help brides plan their weddings.

Sears Holdings Corp. and its creditors can sue billionaire Edward Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. over a series of deals carried out under his leadership that creditors say stripped the best assets out of the company and contributed to its demise, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Sears’s deal to sell most of its assets to ESL Investments, reached on Wednesday, makes room for lawsuits over various prebankruptcy deals, including the spinoff of the Lands’ End clothing business and of some of Sears’s most valuable real estate into a new company called Seritage Growth Properties , according to documents filed by the hedge fund on Friday. Sears reached the sale deal in a multiday auction that concluded on Wednesday, with the company saying Thursday ESL’s $5.2 billion offer to retain control of Sears and keep about 400 stores open was declared the winner. The alternative was a liquidation of the entire chain. At a hearing on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., Judge Robert Drain said that the terms of Sears’s deal include “aspects of the transaction that preserve claims against ESL.”

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) said that it is taking steps to assume responsibility for bankrupt retailer Sears Holdings Corp.’s two pension plans, covering about 90,000 people, Reuters reported. The agency said that it is stepping in to oversee the retirement benefits of employees and retirees at Sears, Roebuck and Co and Kmart Corp as it is clear that Sears' continuation of the plans is no longer possible. Sears Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy in October, said on Thursday that Chairman Eddie Lampert won an auction to buy the once iconic U.S. retailer after presenting an improved offer of $5.2 billion. The PBGC estimates Sears’ pension plans are underfunded by $1.4 billion, leaving them 64 percent funded. The agency said that it is seeking to end plans as of Jan. 31 and added it would become responsible for the pension plans when Sears agrees or a court orders plan termination.