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Residential Capital, the mortgage arm of Ally Financial, has rejected bids by Berkshire Hathaway to buy most of its assets out of bankruptcy, and will instead follow its original sales plans, the New York Times' DealBook blog reported on Friday. In a court document filed on Thursday, ResCap said that it wanted to proceed with two auctions. One would be anchored by the Fortress Investment Group, which has bid $2.4 billion for ResCap’s mortgage origination and servicing business. The other would be anchored by an Ally offer for a $1.6 billion portfolio of mortgages. Both Fortress and Ally would serve as stalking-horse bidders. Berkshire had been seeking to replace the two firms as the stalking-horse bidder for both auctions, by offering sweeter terms. In its court filing, ResCap said that while it had approached Berkshire late last year and early this year about participating in a sales process, the conglomerate showed little interest in doing so.

Eastman Kodak Co. failed to persuade a judge to rule that Apple Inc. has no interest in a group of patents Kodak is putting up for sale as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper said that the dispute could be resolved through a lawsuit in Kodak's chapter 11 case. "An adversary proceeding will permit the parties to raise issues in an orderly and expeditious fashion and preserve all of their just rights," Judge Gropper said. Kodak is planning to sell patent assets and said in court papers that it needed the order to aid in the sale. Apple has claimed ownership of the patents and is trying to "delay and derail" the sale effort, Kodak said.

Eastman Kodak Co. filed a motion on Monday seeking approval of bidding procedures for bankruptcy auction of its Digital Capture and Kodak imaging Systems and Services patent portfolios, which together comprise more than 1,100 patents, Reuters reported yesterday. Kodak's motion outlines a sale process such that only the winning bidder and the successful bid amount will be publicly announced at the end of the auction. Kodak, now in bankruptcy, expects the motion to be heard by the court on July 2, with the auction being held in early August and the winning bidder being announced by August 13.

Residential Capital LLC received another round of court approvals yesterday that will enable it to operate in bankruptcy, while competing bidders stepped in for its mortgage loan and servicing businesses, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn gave final approval to ResCap to allow it to continue paying employees and using its cash to pay other bills. Judge Glenn also said that he still expects to be presented with ResCap's proposed procedures for the asset sales at a June 18 hearing unless the company decides to delay the request. ResCap filed for bankruptcy last month with a plan in place for Nationstar Mortgage Holdings, owned by Fortress Investment Group, to make a $2.4 billion minimum offer for the mortgage servicing assets. Ally Financial, the parent company of ResCap, also agreed to buy a group of ResCap mortgage loans for $1.4 billion. Ally is not in bankruptcy.

Eastman Kodak Co.'s effort to draw interest in the sale of its digital patent portfolio is flagging, complicating the 132-year-old photography pioneer's chances of emerging from bankruptcy court, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company has not been able to attract a stalking-horse bidder, and as a result, Kodak is preparing to hold a "naked" auction for the patents, one in which no suitor makes an opening bid before the auction begins. The patent sale is an essential step in the turnaround of the company, which had a difficult time reducing its reliance on film sales and is continuing a risky transformation to compete against bigger rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. in the market for printers.

U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis said in court papers filed yesterday that Residential Capital LLC needs to do more to ensure it is protecting consumer privacy for homeowners under bankruptcy law in the sales of its mortgage loan and servicing businesses, Reuters reported yeterday. Davis also challenged the potential break-up fee and other parts of an auction process for those businesses, saying that they would discourage bidders from participating. ResCap, the mortgage unit of Ally Financial, filed for bankruptcy in May with a plan to sell its mortgage servicing business for about $2.4 billion to Nationstar Mortgage Holdings, owned by Fortress Investment Group. It also plans to sell some mortgage loans to Ally for about $1.4 billion.

RoomStore, the Richmond-based retailer that filed for chapter 11 protection in December and then scaled back operations in two phases, now appears to have all of its stores on the block, FurnitureToday.com reported yesterday. Julius M. Feinblum Real Estate, which has been marketing the earlier closed RoomStore units, is now offering the remaining locations as well - 11 stores in Maryland, 10 in Virginia, five in North Carolina and two in South Carolina. Additionally, the retailer's bid to sell its 65 percent stake in bedding specialist Mattress Discounters also appears to have cleared a court hurdle.

Nassau Broadcasting Corp. is auctioning 30 of its New England radio stations after obtaining court approval to sell some of its more valuable stations earlier this month, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported yesterday. The auction began on May 3 but was adjourned until yesterday, according to court papers filed. The highest offer received for the 30 stations so far is a $14 million credit bid submitted by the agent for the company's senior lenders, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which recently obtained court approval to buy 11 of the company's stations.

U.S. fashion designing house Betsey Johnson LLC, which filed for chapter 11 protection last month, has commenced a going-out-of-business sale at its stores and outlets, Reuters reported yesterday. Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources are jointly running the sale on Betsey Johnson's behalf. The fashion house had listed total assets of $21.3 million and total liabilities of $15.4 million at the end of 2011, according to the company's balance sheet that was filed in court last month. Betsey Johnson retail stores worldwide, which also sells products to department store operators like Nordstrom Inc and Macy's Inc, said the sale is taking place at its U.S., Canada and UK locations. The company will honor gift cards until June 1.

Bankruptcy Judge John K. Olson has cleared petroleum-delivery company SMF Energy Corp. to auction its assets later this month, with Sun Coast Resources Inc. kicking off bidding with a $9 million offer, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Judge Olson on Wednesday said that the company can auction its assets on May 25.