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Solyndra LLC, the solar-panel maker that received a $535 million U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee before going bankrupt, won’t be able to provide lenders ranking ahead of the government with a full recovery, the company's financial adviser Eric Carlson said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The failed solar-panel maker generated about $117 million from assets sales, including the proposed sale of its manufacturing facility to a unit of Dublin-based Seagate Technology Plc for $90.3 million, subject to competing offers at a Nov. 14 auction, Carlson testified under questioning from Solyndra lawyer Maxim Litvak. The company incurred about $46 million in costs to achieve those sales, giving it about $71 million in net distributable assets. Lenders who rank ahead of the government, Argonaut Ventures I LLC and Madrone Partners LP, are owed about $77 million, about $6 million short of a full recovery, said Carlson of Imperial Capital.

Money-losing solar inverter maker Satcon Technology Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, squeezed by falling demand after top consumer Europe lowered subsidies for renewable energy, Reuters reported yesterday. Shares of the company, which had a market value of $6.32 million as of Tuesday close, fell 77 percent to 7.3 cents in morning trade on the Nasdaq. The company has lost 93 percent of its market value since the beginning of the year to Tuesday. Average selling prices for inverters have fallen by about a fifth this year. Satcon, which makes inverters that help feed solar-generated power into the grid, said in January that it would cut about 35 percent of its workforce and close its Canadian plant. The Boston-based company has reported a loss for 22 consecutive quarters.

ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, whose 22 members constitute a venerable bankruptcy industry Hall of Fame, held a hearing yesterday to gather feedback on what is right and wrong with the statutory scheme that has governed chapter 11 bankruptcy since 1978, Reuters reported. The commission's charge includes "literally considering starting from scratch and re-inventing the statute," said Robert Keach, attorney and commission co-chairman. The commission plans to eventually submit a report to Congress, targeted for April, 2014, that could serve as "part blueprint, part outline" for new legislation, Keach said. The commission will study 13 areas of bankruptcy law, including labor & benefits issues, financing rules and government supervision. It is collecting feedback from several groups through a series of hearings, with upcoming dates at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in San Diego on Oct. 26, and a convention of trade group the Turnaround Management Association in Boston on Nov. 3. Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/18/bankruptcy-reform-idUSL1E8LHP…

To obtain the prepared witness testimony from yesterday's hearing, view background information on the Commission members or to see upcoming dates of activity, please click here: http://commission.abi.org/

Special-effects company Digital Domain Media Group Inc. is asking bankruptcy court permission to hold an auction for a second set of assets that includes the rights to several upcoming film projects and its Florida animation studio headquarters, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Last month Digital Domain sold at auction assets that included its computer-generated effects business and future revenues from movies like "Titanic" and "Enders' Game," a science-fiction movie due out next year.

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. yesterday reported higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly earnings as fuel costs fell and international ventures aided revenue, Reuters reported yesterday. The company, which filed for chapter 11 protection last November and is evaluating a potential merger with rival US Airways Group, cited progress in reducing costs. Quarterly revenue at AMR rose nearly 1 percent despite well-publicized September flight cancellations and delays that American blamed on a slowdown campaign by pilots. The company said that the disruptions were not material to third-quarter results.

Back Yard Burgers Inc., an operator of quick-service restaurants, filed for bankruptcy protection with a pre-negotiated plan to restructure its debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company listed assets of as much as $10 million and debt of as much as $50 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday. BYB Properties, Nashville BYB and Little Rock Back Yard Burgers also sought protection. The filing does not include franchise-owned locations. Back Yard Burgers, based in Nashville, Tenn., operates and franchises restaurants in 20 states, mainly in the Southeast region of the U.S.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, which has agreed to share financial information with suitor US Airways Group Inc., is seeking a one-month extension of a deadline for filing a plan to restructure and exit bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. American, which faces a Dec. 28 deadline to submit the plan in court, asked for an extension to Jan. 28 in a filing today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The request is supported by the committee representing unsecured creditors.

A123 Systems, which had received a $249 million grant from the U.S. government, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, Reuters reported. The filing came after the lithium-ion battery maker's $465 million rescue deal with Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group collapsed, hobbled by "unanticipated and significant challenges," A123 said. A123 has agreed to sell its automotive operations, including two factories in Michigan, for $125 million to Johnson Controls Inc., a leading battery supplier and another recipient of federal green subsidies. The U.S. Department of Energy allotted about $90 billion for various clean-energy programs through the administration's stimulus package. Of that, at least $813 million went to energy companies that eventually filed for bankruptcy, including A123, Solyndra, Beacon, Abound Solar and EnerDel.

Beall Corp. is seeking bankruptcy-court approval to auction its assets in December, but it has not identified a stalking horse to kick off bidding, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. In court papers filed on Monday, the company, which makes aluminum and stainless-steel tanks and trailers for heavy-duty trucks, said it wants to hold an auction on Dec. 12, followed by a Dec. 14 sale hearing.

Dewey & LeBoeuf's former New York landlord has some potentially chilling news for the bankrupt firm's former partners: They may be personally liable for $45 million related to the lease on the firm's midtown Manhattan headquarters—and liability waivers included as a part of a recently approved $71.5 million settlement deal with Dewey's estate will not protect them, American Law Daily reported today. The lease in question dates to 1989, a period during which major law firms were structured as general partnerships, meaning anyone hoping to become an owner of the operation would have to agree to back the firm's debts in exchange for the opportunity to share in the profits. That was the case for Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood—which later shortened its name to Dewey Ballantine and became Dewey & LeBoeuf through its 2007 merger with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae—when it entered into a 20-year lease with Tishman Speyer Trammell Crow, the then-owner of 1301 Avenue of the Americas. Read more:
http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202575180410&slretu…

To learn about unfinished business litigation and other issues surrounding the dissolution of a financially distressed law firm, listen to the latest ABI podcast: http://news.abi.org/podcasts