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AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies, including Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow”, would boost sales this year, sending the company’s shares up 9%, Reuters reported. AMC’s shares have more than doubled in the last 12 months, with the recent surge coming as a result of being one of the so-called “stonks” — a term used to describe stocks with convoluted prospects that are popular with retail traders on online forums. The health crisis devastated the film industry last year, forcing AMC and its rivals to raise new capital to stay afloat, but analysts polled by Refinitiv expect AMC’s revenue to more than double this year. The cinema chain’s move to implement COVID-19 safety protocols encouraged more than eight million customers to return to its theaters during the fourth quarter, AMC said. AMC added several major releases that were delayed would hit AMC’s big screens May onwards, with films such as “Godzilla vs. Kong”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Black Widow” and “F9” expected to boost sales in the coming months.

If Citigroup Inc.’s accidental $900 million payment to Revlon Inc. lenders strained the bank’s relationship with the cosmetics giant, you wouldn’t know it: The two continue to do business together, Bloomberg News reported. The makeup company worked with Citigroup as recently as this week to close an amendment to its revolving credit line, Revlon said in fourth-quarter results Thursday. That’s after Citigroup made the infamous payment error in August and recently stepped in as a Revlon creditor, forcing the bank to revise its results last month after it wrote down a portion of Revlon’s loan. The bank had served as Revlon’s loan administrative agent on previous deals, collecting and distributing interest payments and providing other housekeeping services. Citigroup facilitated debt deals that left a group of Revlon lenders fuming, then accidentally sent those firms hundreds of millions of dollars it then asked to be returned. The money came from Citi’s accounts, and did not impact Revlon’s existing loan. News the companies have maintained their relationship comes as Revlon reported results for the critical holiday quarter. Although sales have fallen for three straight years — a combination of changing consumer habits, rising competition from startups with strong social media presence and the COVID-19 pandemic — the company reported sequential improvement in the latest quarter. Net sales fell 10.4% in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, far better than the 39% drop reported during the height of the pandemic. Excluding $118 million of estimated impact from COVID-19, the company said net sales would have been positive. E-commerce has also become a bigger chunk of sales for Revlon and most of its retail peers. Revlon shares jumped as much as 9.4% to $11.58 in regular trading Thursday after reporting results. Its 6.25% bonds due 2024 last traded traded Feb. 19 around 34.25 cents on the dollar, according to Trace data. Backed by billionaire Ronald Perelman, Revlon has launched various debt transactions to ease its borrowings and buy more time to focus on a business turnaround. It completed a debt exchange in November that eliminated the potential for a bankruptcy filing in the near future.

The Southern District of Texas saw a surge in commercial bankruptcy filings during 2020, drawing a caseload second only to Delaware's during the coronavirus pandemic, which attorneys attribute to the accessibility, ingenuity and predictability of a pair of Houston judges who have spent years giving the district a high profile, Law360 reported. Houston's bankruptcy court tallied 1,363 chapter 11 filings in 2020, almost quadrupling the 361 cases filed in the district in 2019, and making it the second-busiest bankruptcy docket behind Delaware, which saw 1,628 filings. Houston far outpaced the third-busiest docket in the country, the Southern District of New York, which reported 692 filings, according to U.S. Courts data. While the pandemic forced more businesses than normal into bankruptcy last year, Lone Star State attorneys told Law360 there's more to Houston's growing chapter 11 docket than COVID-19. A two-judge complex case bench known for its nearly round-the-clock availability, willingness to walk counsel through tough situations, openness to creative reorganization plans and proven track record has helped establish the Southern District as a commercial bankruptcy hotspot in recent years. In 2020, a variety of companies filed for bankruptcy in Houston, which has long had an oil and energy industry-heavy docket. Large restaurant chains based in California, such as California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and Chuck E Cheese's parent company CEC Entertainment Inc., filed for chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas. Massachusetts-based Friendly's Restaurants LLC and Kansas-based NPC International Inc., the largest Pizza Hut and Wendy's franchisee in the country, also chose Houston.

Citigroup Inc. is punishing investment firms that kept payments the bank accidentally sent to Revlon Inc. lenders by blocking them from certain new debt offerings led by the bank, Bloomberg News reported. The bank is choosing to not invite these money managers, who hung on to over $500 million, to its new-issue debt deals. Firms targeted include Brigade Capital Management, HPS Investment Partners and Symphony Asset Management. These firms and others tangled in a lawsuit with Citigroup can still participate if an issuer specifically requests for them to be able to join their offering. The move follows the surprise ruling by a federal judge that thwarted Citigroup’s efforts to recover funds it sent by mistake to Revlon’s lenders last year while serving as administrative agent for the cosmetics company’s loan. The New York-based bank sued 10 firms that manage assets for Revlon creditors after they refused to return the money, but Judge Jesse Furman said prior court decisions forced him to conclude that the lenders could keep it. While the bank is appealing the decision, a failure to overturn it leaves Citigroup responsible for the bulk of the almost $900 million remaining on the loan that Revlon hasn’t itself paid. Citigroup has now claimed rights as a Revlon creditor, and could seek repayment from the company if the ruling isn’t reversed.

Thomas H. Lee Partners is nearly doubling a fund to assist former workers at its bankrupt Art Van Furniture chain, after months of pressure from employees who said a payment of around $400 each was “grossly inadequate,” Bloomberg News reported. The private equity firm is adding $950,000 to a $1.1 million fund it established last year, according to United for Respect, the group that worked with former employees to demand health coverage or cash assistance after Art Van filed for bankruptcy last year. A representative for Boston-based T.H. Lee, which manages $11.6 billion, declined to comment on the decision. The firm had previously said that it couldn’t increase the size of the fund because it lost its own investment in Art Van. Art Van was a family-run chain founded by Art Van Elslander in Detroit in 1959. By 2015, Art Van had 100 stores and $725 million in annual sales. The family sold in 2017, with T.H. Lee paying $215 million to take over the retail operations. A separate group of funds purchased its real estate. The furniture business soon began to deteriorate, and Art Van filed for bankruptcy early last year, just as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was starting to hit the U.S.

Tailored Brands Inc. has secured some badly needly additional financing less than three months after it exited bankruptcy, Chain Storage reported. The parent company of Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and Moores, has closed on a $75 million investment by a group of existing shareholders and lenders. The financing consists of $50 million of mandatorily convertible notes and $25 million in additional senior secured debt. According to papers filed in the Southern District of Texas last week, Tailored Brands needed the financing in order to continue operating, reported Women’s Wear Daily. The company “experienced unanticipated declines in its business” in December 2020 and early 2021, which caused it to “severely underperform against the financial projections upon which its chapter 11 plan of reorganization was based,” according to a notice of an emergency bankruptcy court hearing. Men’s Wearhouse, which exited chapter 11 in December, said that the financing will provide the company with additional liquidity “as it continues to advance its strategic plans to ensure it is best positioned to meet the evolving needs of its customers following the COVID-19 pandemic, and demonstrates the continued commitment of its investors to the long-term success of the company.”

The bankruptcy filing of Paper Source Inc. is squeezing small vendors the stationery chain uses to stock its shelves with greeting cards, Bloomberg News reported. Paper Source placed unusually large orders with greeting card suppliers in the months and weeks preceding the bankruptcy, according to interviews with two vendors and an outpouring of online complaints. The bankruptcy filing means that payment for those orders may be delayed and, in some cases, possibly never repaid in full. “If they were worried that we wouldn’t ship to them, they should’ve just paid up front for the product,” said Janie Velencia, owner of The Card Bureau in Washington, D.C. “$15,000 to them, that’s nothing. To a small business like me, that’s payroll, that’s rent.” Paper Source ordered more from The Card Bureau in a 60-day period than it had in all of 2020, according to Velencia. The chain ordered $5,000 worth of merchandise within 20 days of the filing and $10,000 in the weeks before that, she said. Vendors were asked for larger-than-usual orders after the holidays because Paper Source needed to stock 27 new stores it acquired from Papyrus, another stationery chain that went bankrupt last year, Chief Executive Officer Winnie Park said in an emailed statement. Most of the orders will get a higher repayment priority in bankruptcy because of their proximity to the filing, Park said.

Mall owner Washington Prime Group is preparing a potential bankruptcy filing as time runs out to avert a default after it skipped an interest payment on its debt, according to people with knowledge of the plans, Bloomberg News reported. The real estate investment trust, which owns about 100 malls throughout the U.S., said last month that it would use a 30-day grace period to continue negotiations with its lenders. The plan to file for chapter 11 protection isn’t final and could change if negotiations evolve or the company’s grace period is extended, the people added. Short interest in the stock grew in late 2020, exceeding 30% of the outstanding shares as recently as October, according to Bloomberg data. The shares continued to trade as high as $7.49 even after the skipped debt payment. Day traders and Reddit investors began flocking to certain heavily shorted names in hopes of profiting when short sellers covered their bets. Columbus, Ohio-based Washington Prime has said that the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic could affect its ability to comply with debt covenants and continue operations, or remain a going concern “under certain circumstances.” It said in November that it was “actively negotiating” with debt holders to cut borrowings. At that time, Chief Executive Officer Lou Conforti emphasized that bankruptcy was not on the table. Washington Prime has been working with advisers from law firm Kirkland & Ellis and investment bank Guggenheim to help it handle its maturities, which include a first-lien term loan due in June. In December, it attempted to convert about $260 million worth of its unsecured bonds into $175 million of preferred equity issued by a new special purpose entity, but failed to reach an agreement with debt holders.

A group of unsecured lenders to Hertz Global Holdings Inc. are proposing an alternative reorganization of the rental car company that would take it public, a move that counters a plan to sell the company to two investment funds for as much as $4.2 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The lenders want to convert their holdings in the bankrupt company into shares of the reorganized company, which could be traded publicly. If Hertz’s board were to accept that plan, it would supersede a bid from Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management to buy the company. The group believes the Knighthead bid, which values Hertz at $4.85 billion, is too low. Its members think Hertz has an enterprise value of $5 billion and would fetch more under their plan. The lenders have not submitted a formal proposal to Hertz and terms are still in flux. In one scenario being discussed, Hertz’s shares would become public upon emergence from bankruptcy. Members of the creditor group include Alliance Bernstein, Bank of America, Invesco, Fir Tree Partners, and JPMorgan Asset Management, according to court filings. Hertz’s board is in the early stages of evaluating proposals and will take the best bid. The company started negotiating with creditors and potential buyers in November, according to court documents. After talking with three bidders, Hertz settled on Knighthead and Certares, who jointly have a travel-focused investment fund.

The former owner of New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts will forfeit a $250,000 bond to settle New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit over its billing practices during the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. James had sued Town Sports International Holdings Inc in September, saying it kept charging membership dues, failed to issue promised credits, and refused to honor cancellation requests after the pandemic forced it to close its New York gyms last March. The settlement papers were filed in a New York state court in Manhattan on Wednesday. Town Sports did not admit liability. James had sued Town Sports in September, two weeks after the company filed for chapter 11 protection. A group of lenders led by private equity firm Tacit Capital later took control of many Town Sports assets in exchange for $80 million in debt. Town Sports is now winding down. James plans to provide restitution to gym members with the $250,000 bond, which Town Sports posted in 2015 under a state law to protect those members during a bankruptcy.