%1

Retailer groups opposed to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.'s $7.25 billion settlement of a lawsuit over merchant credit card fees said they have garnered support from about 1,200 businesses covered by the deal. Trade associations including the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Restaurant Association urged U.S. District Judge John Gleeson not to grant initial approval to the settlement, according to objection papers the parties are preparing to submit. The settlement, estimated to cost the card companies and major banks as much as $7.25 billion, would cover about 7 million retailers nationwide.

Hurricane Sandy caused massive disruptions to U.S. businesses and threatened billions of dollars in damage to a region packed with corporate headquarters, retail stores and transportation hubs, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Estimates for the financial consequences of the storm in the U.S. run to the billions of dollars. Disaster-modeling company Eqecat said the storm could cost the insurers between $5 billion and $10 billion. The Global Business Travel Association last year estimated that a large hurricane costs airlines, Amtrak, rental car companies and hotels nearly $700 million in lost or deferred business-travel spending. The broader impacts on the U.S. economy should be "noticeable but temporary," said economists at Moody's Analytics.

Tennessee restaurant chain Back Yard Burgers Inc. is planning to close 20 locations, nearly all of its company-owned locations, after filing for chapter 11 protection last week, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Back Yard Burgers operates a total of 25 company-owned stores and franchises another 64.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.'s settlement of a merchants' lawsuit over credit card fees, a deal that may cost the companies and banks as much as $7.25 billion, was submitted for approval to a federal judge, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Plaintiffs lawyers formally asked U.S. District Judge John Gleeson to sign off on the agreement covering about 7 million retailers. The settlement would resolve seven years of litigation over allegations that Foster City, Calif.-based Visa and Purchase, New York-based MasterCard conspired with major banks to fix the fees merchants pay when customers use a credit card. A hearing on preliminary approval of the settlement is expected to be held in December or early next year, according to attorneys involved in the case. Final approval of the deal may take a year, said Robert Stolebarger, a lawyer for the Electronic Payments Coalition, a credit- and debit-card industry group that has advised the defendants.

ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, whose 22 members constitute a venerable bankruptcy industry Hall of Fame, held a hearing yesterday to gather feedback on what is right and wrong with the statutory scheme that has governed chapter 11 bankruptcy since 1978, Reuters reported. The commission's charge includes "literally considering starting from scratch and re-inventing the statute," said Robert Keach, attorney and commission co-chairman. The commission plans to eventually submit a report to Congress, targeted for April, 2014, that could serve as "part blueprint, part outline" for new legislation, Keach said. The commission will study 13 areas of bankruptcy law, including labor & benefits issues, financing rules and government supervision. It is collecting feedback from several groups through a series of hearings, with upcoming dates at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in San Diego on Oct. 26, and a convention of trade group the Turnaround Management Association in Boston on Nov. 3. Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/18/bankruptcy-reform-idUSL1E8LHP…

To obtain the prepared witness testimony from yesterday's hearing, view background information on the Commission members or to see upcoming dates of activity, please click here: http://commission.abi.org/

Back Yard Burgers Inc., an operator of quick-service restaurants, filed for bankruptcy protection with a pre-negotiated plan to restructure its debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company listed assets of as much as $10 million and debt of as much as $50 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday. BYB Properties, Nashville BYB and Little Rock Back Yard Burgers also sought protection. The filing does not include franchise-owned locations. Back Yard Burgers, based in Nashville, Tenn., operates and franchises restaurants in 20 states, mainly in the Southeast region of the U.S.

Bakers Footwear Group Inc . won interim court approval to tap a piece of a $22 million loan as it restructures under chapter 11 protection, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kathy A. Surratt-States on Friday signed off on the company's request to immediately access $6 million of the bankruptcy financing package from Crystal Financial LLC.

The National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) said that confidence among U.S. small businesses cooled in September as fewer companies said they planned to hire or invest in new equipment, Bloomberg News reported today. The NFIB optimism index fell to 92.8 from an August reading of 92.9. Four of the 10 components that make up the gauge decreased, the Washington, D.C.-based group said. The fourth decline in the past five months for the measure showed business leaders may be putting off some of their hiring and investment decisions because of a lack of clarity on tax and regulatory policy. At the same time, more companies expected better economic conditions in six months, signaling a pickup in sales and employment may take time to develop.

Two private equity firms agreed to a $166 million settlement of a lawsuit that accused them of stripping assets from the Mervyn's retail chain and pushing the former unit of Target Corp into bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. Creditors had sued Sun Capital Partners, Cerberus Partners and others in bankruptcy court for a series of transactions stemming from the $1.25 billion leveraged buyout of Mervyn's from Target in 2004. The creditors blame the funds along with others of stripping Mervyn's of valuable real estate, leaving the company insolvent and unable to repay creditors when it filed for chapter 11 on July 29, 2008. The chain was liquidated and went out of business during its bankruptcy.

U.S. retailers’ September same-store sales topped analysts’ estimates, led by discount and specialty-apparel chains that benefited from back-to-school shopping, while department stores trailed projections, Bloomberg News reported today. Sales at TJX Cos. climbed 6 percent, beating the average estimate for a 4.4 percent gain from analysts surveyed by researcher Retail Metrics Inc. Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discounter, posted a 2.1 percent increase in same-store sales, topping the 2 percent projection. Same-store sales for the more than 20 companies tracked by Retail Metrics rose 3.9 percent, excluding drugstores. That topped analysts’ average estimate of a 3.7 percent gain, the Swampscott, Massachusetts-based firm said today. Sales increased 5.9 percent in August. Specialty-apparel chains led the gains with a 5.6 percent increase, while discounters rose 4.3 percent and department-store sales increased 1.4 percent.