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Chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. filed a pre-packaged chapter 11 nearly two years after it went private, hurt by declining revenue, increasing costs and higher debt load, Reuters reported today. Conexant Systems said that its sole secured lender, QP SFM Capital Holdings Ltd, an entity managed by Soros Fund Management LLC, will provide $15 Million in debtor-in-possession financing. As part of the restructuring, QP SFM Capital Holdings will exchange about $195 million of secured debt into equity in the reorganized company. The case is Conexant Systems Inc., Case No. 13-10367, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.

Videogame maker THQ Inc. is planning to sell its remaining intellectual property assets, which includes numerous videogame titles that it either owns or licenses, and expects the deals to close by mid-May, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The Los Angeles-based company is offering the assets in six parcels and is requiring final bids by April 15.

The Tribune Company has hired investment banks to weigh a sale of its top newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, the media conglomerate said yesterday, the New York Times DealBook blog reported. The media company, which emerged from bankruptcy late last year, has retained JPMorgan Chase and Evercore Partners as advisers. Speculation has been swirling around the media industry for some time that a number of potential suitors had emerged for the company’s holdings. That group may include the News Corporation, which is in the middle of spinning off its newspaper holdings from its far bigger Fox entertainment operations. That new company may consider acquisitions as a way to gain more clout and reap cost savings.

U.S. aluminum producer Ormet Corp. has filed for chapter 11 protection, hurt by low aluminium prices and high power costs, and agreed to sell its business to investment firm Wayzata Investment Partners, Reuters reported yesterday. Ormet has received about $90 million of debtor-in-possession financing, $30 million from Wayzata and $60 million from Wells Fargo, the company said yesterday. Ormet listed total liabilities of $416 million and assets of $406.8 million, according to the court filing. The case is Ormet Corp., Case No. 13-10334, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.

Jump Oil Co. Inc., a wholesale gasoline and oil company based in Jefferson City, has filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the St. Louis Business Journal reported today. The business has 50 to 99 creditors, estimated assets of $10 million to $50 million and estimated liabilities of $10 million to $50 million, according to the Feb. 13 bankruptcy filing. Some of the largest creditors holding unsecured claims against Jump Oil include: convenience store chain Circle K of Tempe, Ariz., with a claim of $5 million; and ConocoPhillips of Chicago, with a claim of nearly $3.2 million.

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Rodeo Creek Gold Inc. and three affiliates, part of an international mining company engaged in the exploration, development and operation of high-quality gold properties, sought bankruptcy protection to facilitate a sale of certain assets, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company listed assets of $50 million to $100 million and debt of $100 million to $500 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday. Affiliates Antler Peak Gold Inc., Hollister Venture Corp. and Touchstone Resources Co. also sought protection. The filing became necessary after the companies failed to secure financing outside of bankruptcy to fund operations through the conclusion of a sale process, Chief Executive Officer Raymond Dombrowski Jr. said in court papers.

US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines, which announced earlier this month that they would merge to form the world's biggest air carrier, named executives yesterday to lead their integration team, Reuters reported yesterday. Scott Kirby, president of US Airways, and Bev Goulet, chief restructuring officer at AMR Corp.'s American, will develop plans so the airlines can start melding as soon as the $11 billion merger closes, expected in the third quarter, the chief executives of the carriers said in a staff memo. A merged American-US Airways would have revenue of more than $38 billion based on 2012 figures, ahead of current No. 1 United Continental Holdings Inc., the product of a 2010 merger. US Airways began its pursuit of a merger not long after American filed for chapter 11 protection in late November 2011.

HealthBridge Management LLC put five Connecticut nursing homes into bankruptcy, citing burdensome union costs, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. "The centers have a bright future if they can operate under labor agreements that reflect today’s financial realities," said Lisa Crutchfield, HealthBridge labor relations vice president. She said the filings will not affect patient care or the operation of other nursing facilities. Without court protection from creditors, the centers would be losing $1.3 million a month faced with "the crushing burden of unsustainable labor costs," she said. HealthBridge itself did not file.

Top wireless companies have accused struggling PowerWave Technologies Inc., which filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 28, of neglecting a monitoring system that watches over Washington, D.C.’s underground metro system, where PowerWave has been in charge of installing wireless infrastructure to expand Internet and cell phone coverage within the system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T warned Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath that PowerWave's abandonment of the unfinished project has created “an unnecessary risk to public safety and welfare,” according to court papers. Not only has PowerWave stopped work and skipped subcontractor payments, the wireless carriers said, but the company told a subcontractor to ignore an intrusion alarm that went off at the Rosslyn, Va., Metro station. At a hearing on Friday, the carriers said that they have come up with a deal to pay the cost of running the monitoring and maintenance operation while the company and the carriers work toward a transition of the wireless expansion project out of PowerWave’s control. PowerWave is planning to auction its assets on April 8.

Hostess Brands Inc. will send its first group of brands, including Wonder Bread, to the auction block this week as part of its bankruptcy liquidation, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. Flowers Foods Inc., which makes Tastykakes snacks and Nature's Own bread, is set to lead off the bidding for the Hostess assets. The Thomasville, Ga.-based company is offering up to $360 million for five Hostess bread brands, including Wonder Bread and Nature's Pride, as well as 20 plants and 38 depots. In a separate bid, Flowers Foods has offered $30 million for Hostess's Beefsteak rye bread brand.