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Women's retailer Cache Inc. hasn't given up hope on finding a buyer to keep its 218 stores alive, but in the meantime it is looking to secure bankruptcy court approval to begin store-closeout sales by early March, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. During the company's first appearance in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., yesterday, attorneys for Cache said that going-out-of-business sales would start March 4 under a current timeline if no bidders come forward to top an offer from a pair of liquidators. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath, who still has to approve the schedule, expressed some skepticism on Thursday at the direction the case is going. "Why am I authorizing a sale that's going to be complete in 30 days, when it appears nobody but the lender's going to get any money?" Judge Walrath asked. "We don't know that there won't be value," Cache attorney Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP said, noting that while the company has been shopping itself around for some time, a buyer could still come forward.

The price for Dendreon Corp., the bankrupt developer of a drug to treat advanced prostate cancer, rose more than one-third to $400 million before an auction has even been held, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. To retain its place as the stalking-horse bid, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. boosted its initial offer from $296 million. A bankruptcy judge in Delaware approved Valeant as the stalking horse yesterday. Competing bids for the Feb. 12. auction are due Feb. 10. A sale-approval hearing is set for Feb. 20.

The newly formed Wet Seal Inc. creditors’ committee negotiated an increase in the clothing chain’s sale price and changes in financing for the company’s bankruptcy reorganization, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Wet Seal, a mall-based retailer catering to women 13 to 24, worked out a deal before its Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing that gives lender B. Riley Financial Inc. 80 percent of the stock in exchange for a $20 million investment. The remaining 20 percent was earmarked for unsecured creditors. The committee, formed Jan. 30, persuaded Riley, the parent of liquidator Great American Group LLC, to raise the purchase price to $25 million.

In addressing the Office of the U.S. Trustee’s new attorney fee guidelines, the ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission’s report recently proposed constructive changes regarding the retention and compensation of professionals, according to a commentary yesterday by Ralph Tuliano on the Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat Blog. These recommendations are, in part, designed to incentivize professionals to provide services in a cost-effective manner, according to Tuliano. Additionally, the Commission suggested the consideration of the value, relevance and viability of alternative fee arrangements, fixed fee arrangements and task-based fees in the compensation of professionals. http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-BANKB-20595

To read the Final Report of the ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission, please visit http://commission.abi.org.

For additional perspectives on professional fees, be sure to visit the latest series on the Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/category/the-examiners/

Caesars Entertainment Corp. scored a victory yesterday in its bid to dig out from under $18.4 billion in debt through the bankruptcy of its main operating unit, when a judge in Delaware said its financial restructuring could proceed in Chicago, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross steered the action toward a court where Caesars could have an easier time shaking off accusations it looted the big casino operation before putting it into chapter 11 protection. Judge Gross handed a setback to unhappy creditors, junior bondholders and bank lenders who had allied to keep the chapter 11 proceeding active in Delaware, instead of Chicago, the company's choice for an attempted soft landing for its debt-laden largest unit. In directing the chapter 11 case to proceed in Chicago, Judge Gross said that his overriding consideration was that Caesars was entitled to "just enough deference" for its choice, despite "suspect" conduct by the company in the period before its bankruptcy filing.

Valuations can vary for a number of reasons, including different assumptions and inputs, and sometimes because of the methodology itself, according to a commentary on Credit Slips by Prof. Michelle Harner. But as one of Harner’s students in Corporate Finance recently pointed out, valuations also likely differ because of the legal position (he actually used the term "self-interest") of the party employing the expert and offering the particular valuation into evidence. Harner is a strong proponent of judicial valuation, despite the potential gamesmanship and uncertainty inherent in valuation testimony. She thinks that the process subjects the valuation to greater scrutiny, better protects under-represented parties, and encourages consensual resolutions. The ABI Commission endorsed the continued use of judicial valuation, as well as the ability of judges to appoint valuation experts to perform an independent assessment of the valuation. http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2015/01/the-art-of-valuation.html  

To read the Commission’s recommendations on valuation, please click here: https://abiworld.app.box.com/s/rca12wvv3qih6phex1yk  

For more analysis and perspective on valuation, be sure to attend ABI’s VALCON 2015 conference from Feb. 25-27 in Las Vegas. For more information and to register, please click here: http://www.abi.org/events/valcon15-emerging-valuation-issues-bankruptcy-and-beyond