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Security First Corp., a cybersecurity software company that counts major Donald Trump supporter Robert Mercer among its shareholders, filed for bankruptcy with plans to sell its business to ESW Capital LLC for roughly $6 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The technology company, based near Los Angeles, filed for chapter 11 protection on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. It is the latest in a string of proposed purchases of bankrupt software developers by ESW Capital, an Austin, Texas, investment firm founded by billionaire Joseph Liemandt. ESW has also stepped forward in recent years with bankruptcy buyout offers for part of video-screen-technology developer Prysm Inc., business apps provider BroadVision Inc. and TV advertising technology business Ensequence Inc. Security First, which raised at least $140 million in debt and equity financing since its 2002 founding, has just three employees and, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, no longer has an office. The company has generated total revenue of about $92,000 in the past two years, relying almost entirely on funding from secured lenders to continue operating.

Satellite operator Intelsat SA continues to expand despite filing for bankruptcy earlier this year to address billions of dollars in debt, agreeing to purchase the in-flight broadband business of Gogo Inc. for $400 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The acquisition announced on Monday is being funded in part by the $1 billion bankruptcy loan Intelsat is using during its chapter 11 proceedings, the companies said. Intelsat said it has support from lenders funding its chapter 11, a group of investors that includes Apollo Global Management LLC, Fidelity Management & Research and BlackRock Inc. Intelsat, based in McLean, Va., is a major satellite operator and one of the largest providers of broadband service to airline and cruise-ship customers. Although consumer travel has declined significantly this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Intelsat Chief Executive Stephen Spengler said consumer demand for in-flight connectivity is expected to continue to grow over the next decade. Gogo is available on more than 3,200 aircraft, Intelsat said in court papers.

Frontier Communications Corp. named John Stratton as its executive chairman, tapping a longtime telecom operator to lead the internet provider out of bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Norwalk, Conn., company’s appointment of the former Verizon Communications Inc. executive signals its ambitions to keep growing if federal and state regulators approve its reorganization plan. A federal judge last month approved a plan that could move the business out of bankruptcy by early 2021. Frontier filed for bankruptcy protection in April to implement a prearranged $10 billion debt-cutting proposal backed by bondholders. Frontier’s reputation among customers has suffered in recent years as its network of digital subscriber lines failed to deliver the data rates broadband customers have come to expect. The company serves about 3 million internet customers in 25 states, a legacy of its creation from the remnants of several smaller local phone companies. Frontier spent the past decade buying and building new fiber-optic cables in areas not served by rivals like AT&T Inc., CenturyLink Inc. and Verizon. Those high-speed lines attracted some new business, but high fees and poor customer service drove many potential customers toward its cable-TV competitors.

Speedcast International Ltd.’s largest secured lender is trying to top Centerbridge Partners LP’s $395 million offer to buy the satellite communications company out of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Black Diamond Capital Management LLC on Thursday submitted a bid to acquire Speedcast’s assets and challenge Centerbridge for control of the company, these people said. The Black Diamond bid came a day after Speedcast, which connects cruise ships and oil rigs to internet and phone services, filed court papers laying out a proposed equity sale to Centerbridge. Speedcast is scheduled to appear today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston to seek permission to cover expenses in connection with Centerbridge’s equity commitment. The company has proposed folding Centerbridge’s offer into a chapter 11 repayment plan that would, if approved, pay off Speedcast’s $180 million bankruptcy loan in full while covering only a fraction of the company’s roughly $600 million in remaining secured debt. Black Diamond has said that its bid ascribes a higher value to Speedcast and would deliver a $165 million recovery to the secured debt, compared to $39.5 million under the Centerbridge bid, according to one of the people familiar. Speedcast hasn’t formally responded to Black Diamond’s bid, which would take the form of an asset sale.

Prysm Inc., a California-based video-screen-technology developer, has filed for bankruptcy after cutting a deal to sell some assets and hand over others to lenders including Kuwait’s sovereign-wealth fund, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company sought chapter 11 protection on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., with liabilities of $273.6 million and assets of $4.6 million. Prysm was formed in 2005 to develop, market and sell large-format displays and related software. The technology allows users to interact with data and applications on displays of various sizes. Under a proposed restructuring plan, ESW Capital LLC, an Austin, Texas-based acquirer of technology companies, has agreed to buy Prysm’s cloud-hosted collaboration software business out of bankruptcy for at least $12 million.

Windstream Holdings Inc. is looking for $2 billion to exit bankruptcy as it tries to end an era marked by declining business and a controversial spinoff that ultimately led to its restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The telecommunications company aims to complete its chapter 11 case by late August, and plans to keep Chief Executive Officer Tony Thomas and Chief Financial Officer Bob Gunderman at the helm. Investors have already submitted enough orders to cover the roughly $1.65 billion of first-lien debt at a yield in the low 8 percent range, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been gauging interest for the financing over the past few days, and a deal may emerge as soon as next week. With the backing of distressed-debt heavyweights Elliott Management Corp. and Oaktree Capital Management, Windstream is essentially asking investors to give a second chance to the team that led the company through a controversial 2015 spinoff of Uniti Group Inc. that left it saddled with about $6.5 billion of debt and ultimately drove it into bankruptcy. It’s trying to chart a brighter future pegged to growing demand for broadband internet services in rural areas. The first-lien debt may be split equally between loans and bonds, though that could change. The financing, in its preliminary structure, also includes about $500 million of junior debt.

Frontier Communications Corp.’s top lenders are signaling there could be a fight ahead of the telecommunications company’s bankruptcy-plan confirmation hearing later this summer, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Frontier’s senior and junior lenders say there are still substantial obstacles that remain to be addressed before the reorganization plan, initially filed in May, can be approved ahead of the Aug. 11 confirmation hearing. “There are significant confirmation issues remaining, but we’re willing to address those at confirmation,” Brian Hermann, a lawyer for a group of senior lenders, said Monday during a hearing held by phone with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. The cautionary note from the lenders, whose loans are secured by liens on some of Frontier’s assets, came before Judge Robert Drain said that he would approve an updated version of the disclosure documents describing Frontier’s chapter 11 plan. The Norwalk, Conn., telecommunications company has proposed to reinstate the lenders’ debt or to repay them in full under its bondholder-backed bankruptcy-exit plan. Frontier has said only its shareholders and unsecured bondholders are sustaining financial damage under the proposed chapter 11 plan.

The judge presiding over Windstream Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy case approved a restructuring strategy that puts Elliott Management Corp. and other senior creditors in control of the business while extinguishing more than $4 billion in debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., confirmed the telecommunications company’s chapter 11 plan, which wipes out junior bondholders owed nearly $2.4 billion, converts some senior debt to equity and positions Elliott as Windstream’s largest shareholder. The judge’s ruling puts Windstream on a glide path to end a bankruptcy that began last year when Aurelius Capital Management LP won a lawsuit against the company, forcing a hurried chapter 11 filing. To cover the costs of exiting bankruptcy, Windstream has secured a commitment from Elliott and other lenders to supply $750 million in equity financing. They are taking ownership of 100 percent of Windstream under the chapter 11 plan, while unsecured creditors receive nothing.

New York’s financial regulator yesterday proposed new licensing rules that would make it easier for companies to engage in cryptocurrency business in the state, Reuters reported. The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is asking for the public’s input about the plan by Aug. 10. The initiative stems from the “actual or perceived hurdles” that firms may face in obtaining the state’s “BitLicense,” unveiled in 2015, the regulator said. New York’s proposed framework would allow companies that want to engage in virtual currency business activity in the state to obtain a conditional license, through which they would collaborate with fully licensed companies, NYDFS said. New York introduced its BitLicense and initial framework in 2015, when other regulators were still skeptical of virtual currencies. Those currencies are now part of a broader, rapidly growing industry that blends finance and technology, and which leading financial centers are keen to attract. But obtaining New York’s current BitLicense can be a years-long process, virtual currency companies have said. The state has granted 25 virtual currency licenses and charters since 2015, NYDFS said. The regulator on Wednesday also made it easier for companies to offer and use new coins. The regulator will provide a list of pre-approved coins from which licensees can select and then self-certify they are using without having to get additional approval.

Hytera America and Hytera Communications America (West) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this afternoon in a move the company described as a “routine financial restructuring” to address financial issues associated with ongoing litigation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its U.S. business, UrgentComm.com reported. Hytera filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California “for the purpose of preserving its U.S. business operations,” according to an announcement posted today on the Hytera America web site. Hytera America’s bankruptcy filing was executed less than three months after U.S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle of the Northern District of Illinois entered a judgment in March requiring Hytera Communications to pay Motorola Solutions $345.8 million in compensatory damages and $418.8 million in punitive damages. During the trial, a Hytera attorney reportedly described the financial compensation sought by Motorola Solutions as a “bankrupting amount.” In February, the jury unanimously awarded Motorola Solution the full damages the company sought, and Judge Norgle affirmed the verdict. Motorola Solution also is seeking a post-trial ruling for a permanent injunction that would prohibit Hytera from selling a substantial amount of its DMR product portfolio anywhere in the world. Attorneys for Hytera — representing China-based Hytera Communications and subsidiaries such as Hytera America and Hytera Communications (West) — are seeking a new trial. In addition, Hytera has argued that any U.S. ruling should apply only to Hytera’s U.S. business, not the company’s activities in other countries throughout the world.