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Apple Inc. may be coming to Toshiba Corp.’s rescue as the iPhone maker is actively looking at options for helping the troubled Japanese company by investing in its semiconductor unit, which has been put up for sale, Bloomberg News reported today. Apple is considering a range of options from partnering with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to joining with Japanese investors on a bid. SoftBank Group Corp. is considering getting involved in the Toshiba chip unit bidding and may cooperate with Hon Hai or Apple. Apple’s entry into the auction may improve Toshiba’s prospects for emerging from a fiasco in its Westinghouse nuclear business that has led to billions of dollars in losses. Toshiba needs to raise money from the semiconductor sale to plug the hole in its balance sheet, but the bidding process so far has been rocky. 

Avaya filed reorganization plan and disclosure statement with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York, Reuters reported yesterday. Under proposed plan, pre-filing debt will be reduced by more than $4 billion. The restructuring will be achieved through a debt-for-equity exchange in which certain secured creditors would acquire 100 percent of reorganized equity.

Information technology company Ciber Inc. said today that it and some of its U.S. units filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Reuters reported. Capgemini agreed to act as the stalking-horse bidder to buy the North American operations of Ciber for $50 million, which excludes the company's international operations and some liabilities. The company listed assets in the range of $50 million to $100 million and liabilities in a similar range, according to the filing. Ciber has received a commitment for up to $45 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which will be used to maintain its U.S. operations during the chapter 11 process.

The judge overseeing the in-court restructuring of Brazilian phone company Oi SA dropped PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) from the case because he believes the firm made accounting mistakes in the biggest bankruptcy filing in the country's history, according to a court document reviewed by Reuters on Friday. Judge Fernando Cesar Ferreira Viana said in his decision that he had lost trust in PwC after it asked for an extension and committed a "gross error" in compiling a list of Oi's creditors. The judge appointed BDO Consultoria to replace PwC on the case, working in conjunction with law firm Arnoldo Wald. The judge's decision could delay Oi's protracted restructuring process, since the list of its debts must be finalized before creditors can vote on its recovery plan. Viana said in the ruling that he was suspending an April 4 deadline for PwC to submit the list.

Struggling electronics retailer RadioShack may lay off as many as 150 people and close its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, the Dallas Morning News reported. The Fort Worth retailer sent a notice to the state about the coming layoffs, which are expected by late May. In a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, the company said that it is trying to "reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy as an ongoing business." It may have to close the headquarters, if it cannot come up with a way to restructure. Even if it does restructure, however, it may have to lay off employees, the letter said. RadioShack is going through its second bankruptcy filing in just over two years. It filed its most recent petition in bankruptcy court in Delaware in March. As part of that filing, the company said that it would close about 200 stores and consider options for the remaining 1,300 stores.

When bankrupt Lily Robotics announced that its self-flying, follow-along camera drone wouldn't be produced, it promised to refund $34 million in pre-orders back to its customers. That's still the plan, but according to a new refund request form, the company isn't sure when those payments will actually go out, Engadget reported on Friday. The refund process is being run through Prime Clerk, the agency helping Lily Robotics navigate its bankruptcy claims. By making the refund process part of its bankruptcy, the company is hopefully ensuring that all of its customers will eventually be paid back for their pre-order. Lily Robotics hopes to refund most customers directly on the credit card, but is working on a plant to reimburse customers by other means if the original purchase card is no longer active.

General Wireless Operations Inc., which set out to revive RadioShack, the venerable consumer-electronics chain, filed for bankruptcy after a last-ditch effort to co-brand with Sprint Corp. still failed to keep up with changing consumer habits, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. General Wireless filed for chapter 11 protection on  Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy court in Delaware. It listed assets and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million each.  The company was contrived to help the RadioShack name live on following the original chain’s 2015 bankruptcy filing and had joined forces with Sprint to run a store-within-a-store partnership. But pressures on the business persisted, including sluggish foot traffic at shopping centers and a shift to e-commerce. General Wireless said that it will close 200 of its 1,300 stores.