Retail Ecommerce Ventures (“REV”), an investment firm that seeks to convert struggling brick-and-mortar brands into successful e-commerce brands, has purchased the intellectual property and e-commerce assets of Pier 1 Imports for $31 million, reports Forbes. REV also recently purchased the intellectual property and e-commerce assets of Dressbarn, which has seen growth in revenue since
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown recently introduced the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act, which would allow consumer debtors to discharge student loans based on either economic loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or substantial medical debt within the three years before filing for bankruptcy, reports Forbes. [Forbes; July 24, 2020]
Bloomberg reports that creditors
Reporting from Reuters discusses how large firms that have filed for bankruptcy relief since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have awarded bonuses to executives shortly before filing for bankruptcy. Of the 40 large firms investigated, Reuters found that approximately one-third awarded bonuses to executives within the month before filing for bankruptcy. [Reuters; July 17,
British communications and satellite internet company OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, has received a $1 billion bid to purchase the company out of bankruptcy, reports CNBC. If the sale is approved, the U.K government and Bharti Global, which
Various creditor constituencies in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case have requested access to financial information concerning foreign affiliates controlled by the Sackler family, reports the Wall Street Journal. The creditors contend that this information is critical in determining the creditors’ response to the current multi-billion dollar settlement offer being made by the Sackler family
Mayer Brown partners Brian Trust, Sean Scott, and Aaron Gavant and associate Kyle Tum Suden discussed the evolving case law surrounding whether companies in bankruptcy are eligible to pursue funding pursuant to the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program in an article available here. For a further discussion of this issue, see prior articles for Mayer
The New York Times reports that natural gas extraction company Chesapeake Energy Corporation has sought chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Chesapeake’s bankruptcy is reportedly the largest bankruptcy of a United States oil and gas company since 2015 (N.Y. Times; June 29, 2020)
German fintech
Reporting from the New York Times suggests that the United States economy may be heading for a “COVID-19 cliff,” in which distressed businesses that have made efforts to amass and conserve cash throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will be forced to spend money at an unsustainable rate as economies reopen and government pandemic relief programs expire
PG&E Corp. received approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California to sell $20 billion worth of new debt and equity, reports the Wall Street Journal. Approximately $10.7 billion worth of both investment grade and high-yield bonds will be issued and the company is seeking to find investors to
In transactions reminiscent of the contentious JCrew “trap door” transaction of 2017, performance entertainment company Cirque du Soleil and travel booking company Travelport Worldwide Ltd. each recently obtained more favorable financing terms, in the face of increasing financial distress, by transferring certain valuable intellectual property rights into unrestricted subsidiaries (thus freeing those rights from their existing creditors’ liens) to be pledged as security for new loans. Each company’s transfer has been disputed by certain existing creditors claiming that such actions violated the companies’ existing credit agreements; Travelport now has commenced a declaratory judgment action in New York state court to validate its transfer.
Continue Reading Cirque Du Soleil and Travelport Transactions Create Controversy