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New Yorks Interfaith Hospital Bankruptcy Hearing Postponed

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A hearing that could take Interfaith Medical Center out of bankruptcy was pushed back one week, hospital officials confirmed on Tuesday, DNAinfo New York reported yesterday. The hearing, which was set for 2:30 p.m. today, was postponed until May 30 "to provide time to finish documenting settlements and to provide a last opportunity to settle with a few remaining objectors," a hospital spokeswoman said. The decision comes amid reports that the hospital, located in New York’s Bedford/Stuyvesant area, lost patients and staff throughout the bankruptcy process, although hospital officials said that they remain confident in the hospital's growth despite the setbacks. "We are rebuilding, we are hiring, we are reevaluating," said Melanie Cyganowski, the hospital's newly-appointed chief restructuring officer and a former bankruptcy judge. The hospital is also anticipating its bankruptcy exit in order to start applying for a portion of the state's Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment — or DSRIP — funds, an $8 billion waiver approved by the federal government in February. Interfaith's money troubles began in 2010 when New York state lowered Medicaid reimbursements, leading to a December 2012 bankruptcy filing.

Soundelux Enters Bankruptcy Seeks Cash

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Shortly after seeking bankruptcy protection, Hollywood post-production sound company Todd-Soundelux LLC is seeking immediate access to the cash it needs to keep its new reorganization afloat, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Todd-Soundelux, which has worked on such films and television shows as “Lone Survivor,” “Muppets Most Wanted” and “Game of Thrones,” says that it has struck a deal with lender PNC Bank to use the cash collateral securing the bank’s claims. It’s asking the Los Angeles bankruptcy court to approve the deal with PNC, which last year extended Todd-Soundelux a $5 million revolving loan. The company reported assets and debts each in the range of $1 million to $10 million in its chapter 11 petition.

Private-Equity Firm Wins Auction for Free Lance-Star Newspaper

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A private-equity firm behind the Free Lance-Star’s biggest loan could become the Fredericksburg, Va., newspaper's new owner after it won a bankruptcy auction last week, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. An affiliate of Sandton Capital put in the winning bid for the 300-worker publication, which sells about 43,000 copies of its newspaper on Sundays. The publication's owner filed for bankruptcy in January, blaming declining circulation and advertising revenues.

Bridgewater-based Savient Pharmaceuticals Approved for Chapter 11 Plan

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Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of a treatment for gout before its business was sold, got approval of a liquidating chapter 11 plan, with Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath signing a confirmation order on May 19, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The only unresolved objections to the plan, overruled by Judge Walrath, were those of Savient’s shareholders, who said that the cancellation of their holdings was unfair. Chief Liquidation Officer Matthew Bazley said the proceeds of a $120.4 million sale to Crealta Pharmaceuticals LLC weren’t sufficient to cover creditor claims and provide a distribution to shareholders. The liquidating plan was made possible by a settlement between secured noteholders and unsecured creditors following the official creditors’ committee’s challenge to the validity of the secured noteholders’ $147.5 million claim.

Brookstone Creditors to Start Voting on Restructuring Plan

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Brookstone Holdings Corp.'s creditors can begin voting on a bankruptcy-exit plan that relies on the sale of the specialty retailer at an upcoming auction, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The voting follows the Monday approval of Brookstone's disclosure statement by Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon. Brookstone filed for chapter 11 protection in early April with a $146.3 million offer from an affiliate of Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc.

Court Approves Sbarros Bankruptcy Exit Plan

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Sbarro Inc., the pizza chain often found in shopping mall food courts, received a U.S. bankruptcy judge's approval yesterday to move forward with a restructuring plan that will allow it to end its second bankruptcy in three years, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn signed an order approving a plan by Sbarro to cut its $148 million debt load by more than 85 percent, to about $20 million. Founded in 1956, the Melville, N.Y.-based Sbarro had tried to boost sales by revamping recipes to entice diners who increasingly favor "fast casual" chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Panera Bread Co. But an "unprecedented decline in mall traffic" and an "unsustainable" balance sheet necessitated a restructuring, including the closure of hundreds of restaurants, the company said in court papers when it filed for bankruptcy in March. Sbarro entered chapter 11 with a pre-packaged restructuring plan that already had the backing of many of its creditors. In a parallel restructuring option, it also explored auctioning its assets but, drawing no bidders, went ahead with the prepackaged restructuring.

U.S. Trustee Zeroes in on Bankruptcy Fees in Freedom Industries Case

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U.S. Trustee Judy A. Robbins wants the attorneys and advisers working on Freedom Industries Inc.'s chapter 11 case to temporarily forgo some of their fees until it's determined how much the company will need to pay to clean up the West Virginia chemical spill, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Robbins says Freedom's bankruptcy case, filed shortly after chemicals from a Freedom-owned site tainted the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, is at "high" risk for significant legal fees and environmental cleanup obligations. As a result, Robbins is asking the bankruptcy court to consider directing Freedom's legal and other advisers to hold off from requesting full payment of their fees and expenses until further along in the chapter 11 case.

Senior Lenders Buttress 665 Million Claim in Energy Future Case

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Senior lenders of a major Energy Future Holdings Corp. unit have moved to protect their claim to a $665 million early-payment premium, which was thrown into jeopardy when the company filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Trustees for investors in nearly $4 billion worth of senior bonds want a judge to find Energy Future cannot evade paying the premium because of its chapter 11 filing on April 29. Senior and junior lenders to the Energy Future Intermediate subsidiary say that the premium, more than $1.3 billion between the two debt issues, is the price Energy Future must pay if it wants to refinance $7.7 billion worth of debt. Energy Future disputes that position, but has offered to settle with the lenders for 20 to 50 percent of the amount claimed. The settlement has picked up very little new support since the Texas power company filed for bankruptcy, new court papers say.

Two Iowa Nursing Homes Seek Bankruptcy Protection

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Two Iowa nursing homes run by a man who once declared he was a candidate for governor have filed for bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported today. All-American Restorative Care of Washington, Iowa, and All-American Care Center in Muscatine, Iowa, are owned by Jerry Rhoads, who claims $7.2 million in debt and $889,000 in assets including two homes each worth more than $360,000 and $35,000 in equity in a Mexican beach resort timeshare. Potential liabilities are wrongful-death claims filed against an Arkansas facility Rhoads once operated. The 90-bed Washington nursing home has been on the federal government's list of the nation's most troubled care facilities for 22 months. After state investigators looked into a June 2013 death at the facility, the federal government temporarily banned the home from accepting any new Medicaid-dependent residents and began imposing daily fines against the home until it was able to show compliance with all regulations.

LightSquared Keeps Burning Cash

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Philip Falcone's LightSquared blew through another $55.4 million last month, bringing the company's total losses to $1.3 billion since it filed for bankruptcy two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In a monthly operating report filed in bankruptcy court on Thursday, LightSquared again attributed a bulk of the losses to interest payments on its debt. In April, those payments totaled $36.9 million, bringing the amount of interest paid to $788.2 million since the wireless venture's May 2012 Chapter 11 filing. LightSquared's case had another major glitch last week when Judge Shelley Chapman threw out its restructuring plan, calling it a "sophisticated shell game" engineered by Falcone to be too unfair to Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen, the largest holder of LightSquared bank debt. She separately ruled that Ergen sidestepped the rules when he bought the debt, and that some of his claims should be placed below those of other creditors. In a strongly worded reading, Judge Chapman implored the lawyers and advisers on both sides to reach a settlement by May 27, or she will order mediation. The judge cited the cost of the case as the reason she read her ruling aloud, rather than wait the weeks it would take to finalize a written order.