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Fiat SpA said that it would obtain full control of Chrysler Group LLC in a $4.35 billion deal, ending a standoff that had clouded the future of both companies, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal, which helps clear the way for the consolidation of both automakers, assumes a value for Chrysler at just over $10 billion, within the $9 billion to $12 billion valuation that banks underwriting a proposed initial public offering had been considering, but some insiders said that the IPO will now be called off. The total price being paid for the 41.5 percent in Chrysler that Fiat didn't already own is lower than some analysts had predicted. In merging the two companies, Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both companies, hopes to create a single, global automaker with combined sales of six million vehicles, ranking as the world's seventh largest. Fiat and Chrysler reported combined revenue of €84 billion in 2012.

A New Jersey-based aluminum company has filed for chapter 11 protection, which has led to it removing an asbestos lawsuit filed against it in Kanawha County (W.Va.) Circuit Court to federal court, the West Virginia Record reported today. Consolidated Aluminum Corp., which ceased operations in 1994, declared bankruptcy on Dec. 15. The company still exists to manage litigation against it. According to its bankruptcy petition, the company has between 100-199 creditors but only between $500,001 and $1 million in assets. Its largest creditor is Lonza America, to which it owes more than $72 million for an intercompany loan.

Cengage Learning Inc. is requesting bankruptcy court permission to pay fees that are associated with lining up as much as $2 billion in loans that will finance the company's operations after it exits chapter 11, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Tuesday. The textbook publisher said in court documents that were filed on Dec. 27 that it must have the financing — a $250 million revolving facility and a term loan of between $1.5 billion and $1.75 billion — lined up by Jan. 15 so that it can exit bankruptcy in March. Cengage's reorganization plan, which is slated for a confirmation hearing on Feb. 24, is contingent on it lining up this financing.

Longview Power LLC, a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant in West Virginia, is seeking an extension of its sole right to file a bankruptcy exit plan as it continues to spar with contractors over who's to blame for the operational problems that have dogged the $2 billion facility, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Longview's exclusivity period is set to expire on Feb. 26 and the company is asking Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon to extend that period to March 14.

Fisker Automotive Inc. founder Henrik Fisker and the hybrid carmaker’s former directors were sued by investor Atlas Capital Management LP over $2 million in losses that it allegedly suffered in the bankrupt company’s collapse, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Fisker misled investors about its financial health by failing to disclose problems with a government loan and keeping secret a 2011 safety recall while the company raised money, according to the complaint filed on Dec. 27. Had Atlas known the truth, it “would not have purchased or otherwise acquired its Fisker securities, or, if it had purchased such securities, it would not have done so at the artificially inflated prices which it paid,” lawyers for Atlas said in the filing. Fisker, based in Anaheim, Calif., filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 22 and listed assets of as much as $500 million and debt of as much as $1 billion in court papers.

Historic sporting venue and casino Miami Jai-Alai received bankruptcy court approval to take its assets to auction on March 25 with a $115 million cash offer plus some liabilities from Silvermark LLC to lead bidding, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark on Sunday approved Miami Jai-Alai's plan to sell, Silvermark's offer and a $4 million breakup fee for Silvermark if it is bested at auction. Judge Mark will review the results of the auction on March 26. Silvermark LLC, which has ties to New York investment firm the Andalex Group, made a similar offer prior to the August 2013 chapter 11 filing of Miami Jai-Alai operator Florida Gaming Centers Inc., but the deal fell apart when disputes arose with lenders, led by ABC Funding LLC.

Philip Falcone’s LightSquared Inc. will send a bankruptcy plan supported by Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG), JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Melody Capital Advisors LLC to creditors to vote, according to LightSquared lawyer Matthew Barr, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The standalone plan will compete with two others, one of which calls for selling most of the satellite-broadband provder’s assets to an entity owned by Charlie Ergen, chairman of LightSquared rival Dish Network Corp. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday allowed LightSquared to go forward with the new plan after a conference with parties in chambers.

Vegetable canner Allens Inc. is preparing to hold a Jan. 21 auction for buyers that want to challenge a competitor's $148 million purchase offer for the Arkansas business, which lost too much money on its failed expansion into frozen foods, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In court papers, Allens’ executives said that they have reached out to more than 175 potential buyers that might want to purchase the Siloam Springs, Ark., company, which employs roughly 1,175 people and called itself one of the largest private canning companies in the world.

Lone Pine Resources Inc. is requesting bankruptcy court approval of its reorganization plan, contingent with its also receiving the Canadian bankruptcy court’s blessing early next year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company is scheduled to ask the Canadian court to approve its plan during a sanction hearing on Jan. 9. The approval will implement the plan in Canada, but it would still require U.S. court confirmation. Lone Pine is requesting that on Jan. 14, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., approve the sanction order from Canada, making the plan binding in the U.S. Lone Pine’s reorganization plan is a debt-for-equity swap that would allow it to shed $195 million in bond debt. The plan would hand equity in the reorganized company to bondholders and raise $100 million in new cash through a private rights offering. Current equityholders are being wiped out.

LightSquared is proposing a new bankruptcy exit plan with financing from Fortress Investment Group and other backers, as the U.S. wireless communications company seeks to avoid a sale to highest bidder Dish Network Corp., Reuters reported yesterday. LightSquared would receive $2.75 billion in fresh loans and at least $1.25 billion in equity investment from private-equity firms Fortress and Melody Capital Advisors LLC, as well as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Harbinger Capital Partners, court documents filed on Tuesday show. The plan replaces one based on an auction of the company's assets earlier this year. LightSquared scrapped that sale after Dish emerged as the only qualified bidder, with a $2.2 billion offer and terms that LightSquared found unappealing.