Siga Technologies Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection today and said that the filing was to preserve its ability to supply its antiviral smallpox drug to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, Reuters reported today. Siga listed total assets of $209.5 million and liabilities of $197.9 million in its chapter 11 filing. The case is In re: Siga Technologies Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No: 14-12623.
Associated Wholesalers Inc., a food distributor, filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell its assets, citing “fierce competition” in the grocery supply business, Bloomberg News reported today. The company in chapter 11 papers filed in court yesterday listed as much as $100 million in debt and said that it planned to hold an auction with C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. as the lead bidder. AWI listed some of the biggest U.S. brands as creditors, including Tyson, Kellogg, General Mills and ConAgra, each owed more than $2 million; and Smucker, Nestle, Kraft and Dannon, each owed more than $1 million. The company, whose White Rose unit also filed for bankruptcy, has been failing in part due to “compressed margins and fierce competition,” Chief Restructuring Officer Douglas Booth said in a court filing. In the planned sale, C&S will be the “stalking horse” or initial bidder in a court-supervised auction, subject to higher or better offers, AWI said. Booth said that AWI serves 800 supermarkets and other stores in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, with about 1,400 employees.
Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., which operates two casinos in Atlantic City, joined the list of casino operators in New Jersey that have filed for bankruptcy, Reuters reported today. Trump Entertainment operates the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The company, founded by Donald Trump, listed assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in its bankruptcy petition in a Delaware court. The case is In re: Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No:14-12103.
Matagorda Island Gas Operations LLC, a private oil and gas development company sanctioned by the U.S. for failing to comply with safety-disclosure rules put in place after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, filed for bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Morgan City, La.-based company listed assets of as much as $50 million and debt of as much as $500 million in chapter 11 documents filed in court yesterday. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement ordered Matagorda and four other companies to halt offshore oil and gas operations after they failed to give regulators an audit of safety plans required since the 2010 blowout by a BP Plc oil well and subsequent spill, according to a statement by the agency in November.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-09-03/matagorda-island-gas-ope…
For further analysis and insight into oil and gas bankruptcy proceedings, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy from the ABI Bookstore. Click here to purchase: http://bookstore.abi.org/when-gushers-go-dry-essentials-oil-gas-bankrup…
The nation's oldest cutlery manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy after 177 years of making knives and other kitchen tools, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Co. of Shelburne Falls, Mass., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month and the business has also put its 18-acre factory complex up for sale. According to federal bankruptcy court in Springfield, the company filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of two multimillion dollar loans it could not repay. The company owes $1 million on a U.S. Small Business Administration loan and more than $2 million to the small business corporation in New York. Founded in 1837, the company has been owned by James Ross Anderson since 1998.
The struggling 32-bed Monroe Hospital in Bloomington, Ind., filed for bankruptcy, blaming tough competition for why it only cares for an average of eight patients, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Officials put Monroe Hospital LLC into protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis on Friday with a "low patient census and high expenses," said Chief Executive Joseph Roche in court papers, adding that the company owes more than $120 million to its landlord and lender.
Eagle Bulk Shipping filed for bankruptcy yesterday, the latest in a string of shipping companies to make a chapter 11 filing, and said it reached agreement with its lenders to cut its debt by $975 million, Reuters reported yesterday. The U.S. company said in a statement that creditors who hold more than 85 percent of its loans have voted in favor of a pre-packaged reorganization plan. Under the plan, lenders would receive nearly all the stock in the company in return for what they are owed. If approved by the court, the reorganization plan would cancel the company's current stock, which trades on the Nasdaq. Shareholders will receive 0.5 percent of the stock in a reorganized Eagle Bulk, plus warrants to acquire an additional 7.5 percent.
Independent power company Entegra Power Group LLC filed a pre-packaged bankruptcy and expects to emerge from chapter 11 under the control of its junior secured lenders, according to court documents, Reuters reported yesterday. Entegra owns El Dorado, Arkansas-based Union River Power Station, which has an operating capacity of 2,100 megawatts, and Trans-Union Interstate Pipeline, a 42-mile natural gas transmission facility that supplies the station. The company is also an indirect co-owner of Gila River, a 2,334 megawatt power plant in Arizona. The company's second-lien lenders, who are owed $237 million, are set to receive a combination of new third-year, Series A second-lien notes and cash that would be raised from new Series B second-lien notes. Entegra's third-lien lenders will exchange their $1.3 billion in claims for $550 million in new third-lien debt and controlling ownership in the company when it emerges from bankruptcy, according to court documents filed on Monday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/entegra-power-bankruptcy-idUS…
For further analysis of energy company bankruptcies, be sure to pick up a copy of When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, available now in the ABI Bookstore.
http://bookstore.abi.org/when-gushers-go-dry-essentials-oil-gas-bankrup…
Ambient Corp., which sells "smart grid" technology to power companies, filed for bankruptcy yesterday with a $7.5 million offer from an affiliate of Sweden's Ericsson, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Massachusetts-based Ambient filed for chapter 11 protection saying that the company has struggled to find buyers for its patented devices that plug into a utility's power grid to help the utility communicate with its end-users.
Waterville Window Co. Inc., in Winslow, Maine, filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy after 61 years in business, citing liabilities of $813,870 to about 30 creditors, including a couple of PVC extruders, PlasticsNews.com reported. The window fabricator will cease operations and liquidate assets of $54,500 — a truck, van and office equipment — to pay down debt owed to four creditors, two of which are banks. Secured claims total $389,000. Window profile extruder Veka Inc. of Fombell, Penn., has the largest unsecured claim of $111,000 after essentially repossessing $1,780 of product in February, according to the July 14 court filing.