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Total bankruptcy filings in the United States decreased 12 percent in February over the same period last year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. Bankruptcy filings totaled 72,193 in February 2014, down 12 percent from the February 2013 total of 82,336. Consumer filings declined 12 percent to 69,380 from the February 2013 consumer filing total of 78,614. Total commercial filings in February 2014 decreased to 2,813, representing a 24 percent decline from the 3,722 business filings recorded in February 2013. Total commercial chapter 11 filings also decreased 27 percent, to 452 filings in February from the 619 commercial chapter 11 filings recorded in February 2013. “Low interest rates, tighter lending standards and high costs to file continue to be reflected in fewer bankruptcy filings,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “As these trends persist, expect bankruptcy filings to continue to decline in 2014.”
While bankruptcies were down from a year ago, February’s bankruptcy filings trended upward from January. Total bankruptcy filings for the month of February represented a 6 percent increase over the 68,187 total filings registered in January 2014. To read the full statistical release, please click here:
http://news.abi.org/press-releases/february-bankruptcy-filings-decrease…

USEC Inc. filed for bankruptcy after struggling with weak prices for the enriched uranium it supplies to nuclear power plants and difficulties in financing a major project, Reuters reported today. Prices for low-enriched uranium have plummeted more than 30 percent since March 2011, when a tsunami wrecked four nuclear reactors in Japan. Demand for nuclear fuel remains weak, with more than 50 reactors going off line in Japan and Germany since the tsunami. USEC has also been hit by delays in securing funding for its American Centrifuge Project in Ohio. The company was banking on production from the project after it ceased enriching uranium at two gaseous diffusion plants leased from the Department of Energy. USEC has spent about $2.5 billion to develop the plant and needs more than $4 billion to complete it, the company said in its bankruptcy filing. The company sought a $2 billion loan guarantee from the DOE, but the government proposed a cost-sharing program to demonstrate the capability of the centrifuge technology. The $350 million research and development program, 80 percent funded by DOE, has been extended through April 15.

Longview Power LLC won approval yesterday of a key settlement with affiliates of German engineering firm Foster Wheeler AG, which has agreed to fix the boiler that has kept Longview's power plant from operating at full capacity, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon approved the pact over the protests of two other contractors involved in building the troubled plant: an affiliate of Norwegian construction company Kvaerner ASA and Siemens Energy Inc., a unit of Siemens AG.

Bankruptcy Judge Ronald G. Pearson authorized Freedom Industries Inc., the company behind the West Virginia chemical spill, to continue cooperating with a federal grand jury investigation of the spill, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Pearson specifically authorized Freedom to hire a digital investigations firm to help it gather and preserve electronic records in connection with the probe, court papers show. In its request to hire Vestige Ltd., Freedom said that it has been “coordinating with the relevant government agencies in good faith to comply with all of the electronic document requests.” Hiring Vestige at the quoted cost of $42,555 would allow it to continue cooperating with the probe and avoid “further legal action and/or sanctions from the governmental agencies and/or this court,” Freedom said. In addition to the grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice, Freedom disclosed it has also faced document requests from West Virginia’s attorney general, among others.

Electricity generator Mach Gen LLC filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday as shrinking power demand and lower energy and capacity margins hurt the company, Reuters reported yesterday. The Athens, N.Y.-based company, owned by affiliates of Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. among others, said that regulatory hurdles that halted the sale of its Harquahala Facility in 2013 meant it could not cut debt. As of Dec. 31, 2013, Mach Gen's unaudited balance sheet reflected assets of about $750 million and liabilities of about $1.6 billion, it said. The company said that a majority of its stakeholders had agreed to a prepackaged plan of reorganization, which would give its second-lien debt holders 93.5 percent of the restructured company and reduce about $1 billion of debt.

Company officials put Noble Logistics into chapter 11 protection on Friday, stating that the Houston-based company is running low on money and already owes about $18.8 million to lenders, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Noble Logistics said that it has struggled with "significant" litigation costs but asked for permission to spend part of a $2.6 million bankruptcy loan to pay the contractors and keep the business alive.

A coal supplier to Optim Energy LLC has accused the bankrupt company of maneuvering to benefit its owner — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's investment company — at the expense of other creditors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In court papers, lawyers for the coal supplier, an affiliate of Kiewit Corp., told Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon that the fine print of Optim Energy's proposed $115 million bankruptcy loan, which would be extended by Gates's company, would give that lender an unfair amount of power in the bankruptcy.

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said Energy Future Holdings Corp. will “almost certainly” file for bankruptcy this year unless natural gas prices soar, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. Berkshire suffered a pretax loss of $873 million on its $2 billion Energy Future debt investment and exited the holding last year, Buffett, 83, said in his annual letter to shareholders today. The billionaire said making the wager without first consulting Vice Chairman Charles Munger was “a big mistake.” Energy Future was purchased in 2007 in the largest leveraged buyout in history, and ran into trouble as natural gas prices tumbled. The company is Texas’s largest electricity provider.

Sorenson Communications Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, a court filing showed, as declining revenue and mounting debt forced the company to consider restructuring, Reuters reported today. Sorenson, which provides video relay services for people with hearing loss, said in less than a year it would be obligated to pay about $1.28 billion. Due to regulatory changes, the debtors cannot pay or refinance the obligations based on its projected revenue and cash flow, the court filing showed. The Federal Communications Commission's 2010 reduction in rates and increased minimum performance requirements for video conferencing services, made it infeasible to provide the service over the long term, the company said.

Sandwich chain Quiznos is preparing to file for bankruptcy-court protection within weeks as it contends with unhappy franchisees and a $570 million debt load, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Quiznos has been negotiating with creditors for weeks on a restructuring plan that would streamline its trip through bankruptcy court, but a deal hasn't yet been reached. The chain's move toward bankruptcy comes two years into a major turnaround effort that included an out-of-court debt restructuring and a management shake-up. While a chapter 11 filing would give the company much-needed flexibility on leases and unattractive contracts, the company must repair its damaged relationship with franchise owners who say they're being squeezed out of business by the high cost of operating a Quiznos outlet.