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U.S. Electric Car Maker Coda Files for Bankruptcy

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U.S. electric car startup Coda Holdings Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday after selling just 100 of its all-electric sedans, Reuters reported yesterday. The bankruptcy filing will allow the Los Angeles-based company to exit the auto sector and refocus on energy storage, a far less capital-intensive business. The company uses the same technology it used in cars to build systems for utilities and building operators to store power. A group of lenders led by Fortress Investment Group LLC plan to extend debtor-in-possession financing and will seek to acquire the company for $25 million through the bankruptcy process, Coda said in a statement.

Republic Airways Still Working to Shed Frontier Unit

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Republic Airways Holdings said yesterday that it still plans to shed its Frontier unit by June or July, depending on whether a sales agreement is reached, Reuters reported yesterday. Indianapolis-based Republic, which operates regional carriers Republic Airlines and Chautauqua Airlines, has been looking to divest itself of Frontier since late 2011. It had bought Frontier out of bankruptcy in 2009. The Wall Street Journal reported in early April that two investment firms, Indigo Partners LLC in Phoenix, and Anchorage Capital Group LLC in New York, were competing to buy Frontier. Talks with Republic were at an early stage and could fall apart, the newspaper reported.

Kodak Expects to Exit Bankruptcy as Soon as July

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Eastman Kodak Co. said yesterday that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy as soon as July as a commercial imaging business under the control of its creditors, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said in court documents that it expects to issue new stock with the majority of it going to its second-lien note holders. The holders of the second-lien notes include investment funds P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, D.E. Shaw Group and Bennett Management Corp. A new board will be appointed and the company said the new directors will be identified later. The company did not say how much it expects to pay its unsecured creditors, who are owed as much as $2.2 billion, but they would also receive some shares in the reconstituted Kodak.

Chrysler Hits a Pothole over Retooling

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Chrysler Group LLC's first-quarter profit fell 65 percent compared with a year earlier as a result of lower auto shipments due to idled factories and higher retooling costs ahead of the launch of several new vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker said that profit fell due to lower output at several factories preparing for the launch of new vehicles, such as the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. It also cited higher costs associated with upgrading plants to build new versions of its Ram heavy duty pickup trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

IRS Deal Puts Ambac on the Path to Exiting Bankruptcy

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Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman yesterday approved Ambac Financial Group Inc.'s settlement with the Internal Revenue Service over the very tax issues that helped tip the bond insurer into its November 2010 bankruptcy, inching Ambac toward emerging from chapter 11 protection, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The approved settlement calls for Ambac to pay the IRS $101.9 million to settle claims over how the company accounted for credit default swaps in the years before its bankruptcy filing. The IRS had claimed it was owed $802 million, and while the two sides agreed to many of the terms of the settlement last year, the agreement was finally consummated earlier this month.

Bakers Union Invokes Labor Law Urges Hostess to Hire Employees

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The union whose nationwide strike sparked Hostess Brands Inc.'s decision to liquidate in bankruptcy said that its workers are "inextricably linked" to the future of snacks such as Twinkies and Ho Hos and hinted that the law is on its side when it comes to hiring practices, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. David Durkee, the president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union, said his workers are "eager and willing" to return to the four plants that Apollo Global Management LLC and Metropoulos & Co .—the private-equity firms that bought most of Hostess's cake business—are relaunching over the next eight to 10 weeks.

Bankrupt Patriot Coal Asks Court to Slash Union Pensions

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Patriot Coal Corp. today will seek court permission to slash health care and pension benefits for about 13,000 union workers, an issue that has set off weeks of street protests by affected workers, Reuters reported today. The company, which declared bankruptcy last year, said that it wants to save $150 million a year on its labor obligations to help it regain profitability. But the United Mine Workers of America, the nation's biggest coal miners' union, says the cuts are unfair and plans to protest outside the bankruptcy court hearing today.

Judge Says Creditors Can Vote on Arcapita Liquidation Plan

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Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane on Friday said that creditors can vote on Arcapita Bank 's proposal to wind itself down and sell off its assets, a plan that has support among many of the creditors the Bahraini investment bank plans to pay back, Dow Jones Daily Bankrutpcy Review reported today. The latest version of the proposal had two main changes: one that creates a new entity that would retain Arcapita's management and handle the company's back-office functions and another that sets a minimum valuation for the company's assets that, if met, would allow the company to sell.

Bankruptcy Court Approves Antitrust Settlements Between American Airlines Orbitz and Travelport

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Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane has approved two antitrust settlements between American Airlines Inc., Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Travelport Ltd., ending a two-year legal battle, the Dallas Morning News reported today. In April, American and Orbitz settled their legal dispute over ticket distribution. In March, American settled claims that Travelport colluded with other reservation systems to stifle competition in providing flight data to travelers and agreed to a new distribution agreement. Both settlements required approval of the bankruptcy court in American and its parent AMR Corp.’s chapter 11 reorganization. Terms of the settlements were not released, and Judge Lane granted AMR's request to seal the settlements and Travelport agreement and redact the confidential information from the Travelport agreement,” according to court documents filed on Thursday.

Kodak in Deal to Hand Units to U.K. Retirees

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Eastman Kodak Co. reached a deal to turn over the camera-film business that helped make it a blue-chip company and other enterprises to U.K. retirees in exchange for wiping out pension obligations, in a deal that sets the stage for the onetime photography icon to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings later this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Under the deal, Kodak will hand over to the U.K. Kodak Pension Plan, its largest creditor, its "personalized imaging" and "document imaging" businesses, the company said today. The pensioners will then be able to either run the businesses or sell them as they see fit. Kodak will no longer owe the pensioners $2.8 billion, a large sum that threatened to complicate the Rochester, N.Y.-based company's efforts to reorganize.