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Wet Seal Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, becoming the fourth apparel retailer to file for bankruptcy in two months, as the sector struggles with growing competition and a slowdown in spending among teen shoppers, Reuters reported yesterday. Wet Seal said in its bankruptcy filing that it received $20 million in debtor-in-possession financing from B. Riley Financial Inc., and intends to reorganize its business around e-commerce and its remaining 173 stores. The company, which sells apparel and accessories for teen girls and young women, laid off 3,700 employees and closed 338 stores last week. Wet Seal listed assets of $10 million-$50 million and liabilities of $100 million-$500 million, and hired FTI Consulting Inc. as a restructuring advisor, according to the filing.

A Connecticut hospital put itself under chapter 11 protection on Wednesday with plans to sell itself to a nearby healthcare system, five years after an unsuccessful bankruptcy reorganization left it saddled with $40 million in debt, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Johnson Memorial Medical Center Inc. and five affiliates filed for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, Conn. with a sale agreement in hand to turn over its entire operation — including a 92-bed hospital, 180-bed skilled nursing facility, and hospice-care services arm — to Saint Francis Care Inc.

The operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp, the largest U.S. casino company, filed for chapter 11 protection to implement its plan to cut $10 billion of debt, Reuters reported today. The company said it has the support of its senior noteholders to implement the plan, which will reduce the operating unit's debt to $8.6 billion from $18.4 billion. The bankruptcy protection was filed by Caesars Entertainment Operating Company Inc. and several affiliates in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They listed assets and liabilities of over $1 billion, according to the filing. Much of the debt is a legacy of the $30 billion leveraged buyout of Harrah's Entertainment that was led by Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital in 2008. Under the plan, the operating unit will be split into a casino company and a publicly traded real estate investment trust.

A U.S. unit of China’s Suntech Power Holdings Corp., once the world’s largest solar-panel maker, followed its parent in seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors after increased competition pushed down prices, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. San Francisco-based Suntech America Inc., an affiliate of Wuxi, China-based Suntech Power, today listed more than $100 million each in assets and debt in chapter 11 filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Suntech Power, following creditor demands, filed for chapter 15 protection last February in Manhattan. U.S. bondholders moved to put the company into bankruptcy on their own with an involuntary bankruptcy liquidation under chapter 7 after it defaulted on about $541 million of their debt.

A New York architecture and interior-design firm with roots dating back more than a century has filed for chapter 11 protection, citing its inability to collect more than $2 million from an assignment in Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Unlike many companies that go into bankruptcy, Swanke Hayden Connell doesn’t have any major bank loans or other secured debt. Instead, the firm says in court filings that a shortage of cash and its inability to pay its bills led to the bankruptcy. Over the years, Swanke Hayden has worked on a number of well-known projects in New York and elsewhere, including the Trump Tower, a 1980s facelift of the Statue of Liberty, and the recent rehabilitation of Central Park restaurant Tavern on the Green. In recent years, Swanke Hayden has taken on several projects in Russia, including a 70-story mixed-use tower in Moscow and a planned mega-complex in downtown Moscow. Swanke Hayden says in filings that one of its Russia clients hasn’t paid $2.3 million due to the firm because it claims “it has suffered damages as a result of the debtor’s alleged delays and omissions.”

Farmers and land owners who invested in two small wind farms in southwest Minnesota have filed for bankruptcy reorganization, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Regulatory filings say the 360 owners stand to lose their investment and the wind farms may eventually have to shut down. Minwind says the turbines have needed extensive repairs and it can no longer afford the maintenance. Minwind has also failed to file some paperwork with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since 2006 and has a $1.9 million liability. Minwind's attorneys have told the government the owners are "unsophisticated" about regulatory matters and should be excused for the filing lapse.

One of the nation's largest commercial masonry companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its debt, including an estimated $5.5 million penalty claimed by its former pension plan, the Tennessean reported today. Nashville-based WASCO Inc. and subsidiary Lovell's Masonry Inc. estimated total assets at roughly $1 million and total liabilities at $9 million. The bankruptcy filing stemmed from WASCO's decision four years ago not to renew its union contract with the Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local Union #5 of Tennessee, which had represented some of the company's employees. That resulted in a withdrawal penalty levied by the Bricklayers & Trowel Trades International Pension Fund. In connection with the chapter 11 filing, WASCO is seeking court approval for a $2.5 million line of credit it secured from Kingston Capital to fund operations during the proceedings. Bankruptcy Judge Randal S. Mashburn is expected to consider that motion today.

WBH Energy, one of many tiny shale oil and gas producers in Texas, has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming what may be the first U.S. oil company to do so since crude prices started tumbling six months ago, Reuters reported yesterday. It listed assets and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million in its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas on Sunday. The privately held company, based in Austin, has leases in the Barnett Combo Play of the Fort Worth Basin, which mainly produces gas and is not a significant field in the current U.S. oil boom that has lifted output to the highest level in decades. A 50 percent slide in crude prices since June has prompted many producers to scale back plans for new wells or in some cases halt new drilling.

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Friendly's franchisee J&B Restaurant Partners of Long Island II LLC and certain affiliates filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday as part of a pre-negotiated restructuring plan, Reuters reported today. J&B said that the filing will allow it to close unprofitable restaurants, reduce debt and quickly emerge from bankruptcy. The owner of 37 Friendly's restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut expects to exit bankruptcy over the next six months and to remodel at least 11 restaurants over three years. The company said that GE Capital Franchise Finance will provide a debtor-in-possession financing to enable normal operation. J&B listed assets of about $500,000 to $1 million and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million.

William Nicklin’s troubled investment firm NSB Advisors LLC has filed for bankruptcy protection with a plan to sell its assets to Emancipation Management LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported today. NSB, whose assets under management were more than $1.2 billion in 2012, filed for chapter 11 protection on Monday after a 2012 dispute with its custodian broker led to a flight of clients. In an affidavit filed with the court, Nicklin placed much of the blame for the Fishkill, N.Y.-based brokerage’s financial woes on its former custodian, C.L. King & Associates Inc. About three years ago, Nicklin said, C.L. King told NSB that it needed to reduce its clients’ collective balances by $231 million for regulatory reasons. According to Nicklin, C.L. King also sent letters to his biggest clients urging them to move their accounts. A lawyer for C.L. King, Richard Roth of the Roth Law Firm LLC in New York, denied Nicklin’s allegations. NSB now has just a fraction of its former customers — 410 accounts and assets under management of approximately $143 million, Nicklin said.