Memory-storage company OCZ Technology Group has been cleared to move ahead with a bankruptcy auction of its assets, with Toshiba Corp. opening the bidding with an offer of $35 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh signed off on rules for the auction yesterday and set a mid-January hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to review the results of the bidding.
An affiliate of investment firm Fortress Investment Group LLC is believed to have made a play to acquire the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., which was involved in a deadly crash this past summer, out of bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy trustee Robert J. Keach, who is overseeing the railway company's chapter 11 case, said on Friday that it is his "understanding" that proposed buyer Railroad Acquisition Holdings LLC is affiliated with Fortress, the publicly traded investment firm that has about $58 billion in assets under management. Railroad Acquisition Holdings has offered $14.25 million for Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, which owns the train that derailed in July, killing 47 people. The train, which included five locomotives and was carrying 72 carloads of crude oil, set off explosions that destroyed part of the small Quebec town Lac-Mégantic. The railway sought the protection of U.S. and Canadian courts after the accident in order to secure funds to pay the victims, who have brought litigation against the company. Since his appointment in August as the bankruptcy trustee, Keach has been working to centralize a number of derailment lawsuits in one U.S. court and to find a buyer. He has also obtained $3 million in bankruptcy financing for the railway and extended its Canadian operating license.
Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to sell its drug portfolio, including the gout treatment Krystexxa, to Crealta Pharmaceuticals LLC for $120.4 million, pending bankruptcy court approval, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Savient, based in Bridgewater, N.J., filed for chapter 11 protection in October. It said yesterday that the deal with Crealta was reached following bankruptcy court-approved auction. The companies will seek required court approval for the sale on Friday.
Catalyst Capital Group Inc. won a bankruptcy auction for Advantage Rent a Car, whose future has been under the microscope since it became a crucial part of antitrust regulators’ decision to bless the merger of two major car-rental firms last year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Canadian private-equity firm beat out German rental car company Sixt SE at Monday’s auction, agreeing to forgive up to $46 million in debt it extended to fund Advantage’s chapter 11 case. Advantage filed for bankruptcy protection just months after Hertz Global Holdings Inc. shed the chain so that it could buy Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. Looking to preserve competition in the highly concentrated $24 billion U.S. car rental industry, the Federal Trade Commission required Hertz to divest Advantage to complete the $2.3 billion purchase of Dollar Thrifty. But just months after the government settlement was reached, Advantage filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to sell itself to the highest bidder.
Northern Beef Packers LP is set to sell its assets to White Oak Global Advisors for $44.3 million, after that sale received the bankruptcy court's blessing on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy Judge Charles Nail Jr. of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Aberdeen, S.D., approved the San Francisco-based firm's offer of $4.8 million in cash and $39.5 million in debt forgiveness, according to court documents. American Foods Group LLC also submitted a qualified offer of $12.7 million in cash, but White Oak was deemed the successful bidder. Northern Beef Packers filed for chapter 11 protection in July with a plan to sell its assets, after suspending operations at its South Dakota meat packing plant.
Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath approved the $40.8 million sale of golf retailer Edwin Watts to a duo of purchasers who could keep some of its 91 stores open, the Wall Street Journal reported today. After a court hearing yesterday, Judge Walrath cleared GWNE Inc., an affiliate of Worldwide Golf Shops, and liquidator Hilco Merchant Resources LLC to take over the chain after the buyers teamed up to win a bankruptcy auction earlier this week. The company hasn't said publicly how many stores will remain open, but court papers show that the purchasers plan to keep lease agreements at 49 locations.
FX Concepts LLC, the currency hedge fund founded by John Taylor in 1981, asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sell its trademark and trading models to Ruby Commodities Inc. for $7.48 million after an auction yesterday, Bloomberg News reported today. Ruby made the best offer for all the company’s assets after 39 rounds of bidding, International Foreign Exchange Concepts Holdings Inc., the holding company for FX Concepts, said a court filing yesterday. Before that, FX Concepts proposed to sell its trading models individually and drew offers that valued them at as much as $3.48 million, according to court papers.
Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. won court approval on Friday to take over about 150 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores, salvaging most of Tesco Plc's U.S. grocery-chain venture, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey signed off on the deal, which is being financed by the British retailer with a $120 million loan, part of an agreement struck before Tesco put Fresh & Easy under chapter 11 protection.
Furniture Brands International Inc., the maker of Broyhill, Lane and Thomasville home furnishings, won court approval to sell almost all its assets to KPS Capital Partners LP for $280 million, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi granted approval of the sale at a hearing today in Wilmington, Delaware, overruling an objection from a shareholder that said a truncated sales process prevented Samson Holding Ltd. from making a competing bid. The furniture maker last week canceled its bankruptcy auction after saying it received no other qualified bids to challenge KPS. The New York-based private-equity firm should close the sale by today.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that it expected to sell its remaining shares of General Motors Co. by the end of the year, a plan that may leave taxpayers with a shortfall of about $10 billion on the automaker's 2009 bailout, Reuters reported yesterday. Treasury said yesterday that it had completed the sale of 70.2 million shares of GM stock and to date had recouped $38.4 billion from the $49.5 billion taxpayer-funded rescue of the Detroit company. At current prices, Treasury would recoup another $1.2 billion from its remaining stake of 31.1 million shares, bringing its total recovery to $39.6 billion. Treasury said that its initial cost basis for the GM shares was $43.52 per share. Treasury previously said that it expected to exit by April 2014, but analysts had expected it to move up the final sale date.