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Cengage Learning Inc. said yesterday that it reached an agreement with its major creditors that will cut the textbook publisher's debt by $4 billion and pave the way to exit chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said that the agreement will modify a previously filed reorganization plan and gives it the support needed to confirm its plan in March. Prior to the agreement, the company had $5.8 billion of outstanding debt, much of it accumulated as a result of a leveraged buyout led by Apax Partners in 2007. The private equity fund acquired Cengage, which develops teaching materials for schools and libraries, for $7.75 billion from Thomson Reuters Corp.

W.R. Grace & Co. emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, ending an almost 13-year saga for the Columbia, Md.-based building products and chemical maker, the Baltimore Business Journal reported today. Grace filed for chapter 11 protection in April 2001 amid a raft of asbestos-related claims against the company. Now that it has emerged from bankruptcy, Grace could institute a dividend on its common stock. Exiting bankruptcy will allow the company to return cash to shareholders, said Rich Badmington, a Grace spokesman. But the company has not made any announcement about whether it intends to launch a dividend, Badmington said. Two trusts Grace established as part of its court-approved bankruptcy reorganization plan will pay personal injury claimants and property owners in full, Grace said. The trusts will be funded by more than $4 billion in cash, stock warrants, insurance proceeds and other sources.

Archetypes, a startup that flew under the radar of the New York tech scene, burned through more than $19 million in just two years on a website that never launched out of beta, CNNMoney.com reported yesterday. Archetypes raised debt from its executive chairman, Philosophy cosmetics founder Cristina Carlino, but it was not enough to stay in business. In November, the company filed for chapter 11 protection with between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities owed to between 50 and 99 debtors. On Jan. 16, Archetypes emerged from bankruptcy thanks to Carlino, who already owned 49.5 percent of the company. Archetypes was acquired by CC Bridge Lender, the vehicle which Carlino used to provide debt.

Wireless venture LightSquared has reached a deal for a short-term bankruptcy loan from the holders of its bank debt, a group that includes Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The $33 million loan proposal comes three days after LightSquared said for the first time that it would include Ergen in its reorganization plan. A hearing on the loan, which would keep LightSquared afloat as it negotiates a restructuring proposal, is set for today. As recently as last week, Ergen, a group of hedge funds holding LightSquared’s bank debt, and Fortress Investment Group LLC had all proposed separate loans.

With a bankruptcy auction already in the works, Dots LLC has "several" potential buyers interested in running the women's clothing retailer as a continuing business, according to Kenneth Rosen, a lawyer for the ailing chain, the Wall Street Journal reported today. "Several of the potential suitors are looking at Dots as a going concern — which is what the company wants to see," Mr. Rosen, of Lowenstein Sandler LLP, said yesterday. Court papers say that there is no committed opening bid yet, and hence no guarantee that Dots won't fall into the hands of liquidators at a planned Feb. 28 auction. However, interest among bidders in keeping Dots alive means hope for the 400-store chain of discount-clothing outlets and its 3,500 employees. Dots filed for chapter 11 protection Jan. 20 and signed up $36 million worth of financing from existing lender Salus Capital Partners LLC.

Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane granted chapter 15 protection to Zlomrex International Finance SA, the London-based finance arm of Polish steel maker Cognor SA, a key element of its debt-exchange effort now underway in the U.K., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The Polish steel maker is seeking to restructure 126.1 million euros ($172.5 million) in debt that was due in February.

China’s one-time solar-power giant Suntech Power Holdings Co. plans to file for bankruptcy protection in U.S. court as its leaders negotiate with the holders of more than $500 million in U.S. convertible bonds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Suntech Power Holdings, which was once the world’s largest solar panel maker, defaulted on its U.S. debt in March, and financial professionals in the Cayman Islands — where the holding company is incorporated — have been trying to negotiate a repayment plan with bondholders. Suntech plans to file for chapter 15 protection. If recognized by a U.S. judge, the solar panel maker will receive the benefits of U.S. bankruptcy law, including the so-called automatic stay that halts lawsuits and prevents creditors from seizing assets. The filing is expected by Feb. 21.

Attorneys for Vince Young said on Friday that the former NFL quarterback has settled his legal dispute with a New York lender and asked a federal judge to dismiss Young’s voluntary chapter 11 petition filed two weeks ago, the Houston Chronicle reported on Saturday. According to the six-page motion filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones, Young filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 17 primarily to forestall debt collection efforts by Pro Player Funding, a New York lender that had a judgment with interest totaling about $2.5 million against Young stemming from a loan taken in his name during the 2011 NFL lockout. Young has reached a resolution with Pro Player Funding, according to the motion, and therefore is asking for the chapter 11 case to be dismissed.

LightSquared Inc. and its various creditors are in talks to devise a consensual plan to restructure the wireless company's assets and end its bankruptcy, Reuters reported on Friday. LightSquared, owned by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, is trying to bridge disagreements among proponents of three separate reorganization proposals currently on the table, according to Paul Basta, a lawyer for a special committee overseeing the company's restructuring. The talks so far do not include representatives for Dish Network Corp Chairman Charles Ergen, whose debt holdings make him LightSquared's largest single creditor. LightSquared has accused Ergen of surreptitiously buying the debt to effect a takeover of LightSquared by Dish, a key competitor. A trial on that dispute remains ongoing.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday as part of a proposed $15 million settlement for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The chapter 11 reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs' attorneys and insurers, resulting in a proposed deal to resolve the abuse claims, diocese officials said. Bishop George Leo Thomas expressed "his profound sorrow" and apologized to the victims in a news conference. The $15 million "will at least be a beginning point for people who are seeking resolution in their lives and in their hearts," Thomas said. In addition to the money, the diocese must publicly apologize, publish the names of clergy members who have been credibly accused of abuse, offer to meet with abuse survivors, provide victim counseling and reinforce its policies and procedures to prevent abuse, plaintiffs' attorneys said.