The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled in In re Serendipity Labs, Inc., 620 B.R. 679 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2020) that a debtor was ineligible to proceed under the newly enacted Subchapter V of Chapter 11, designed specifically for small businesses, because it was an affiliate of an “issuer” (as
Reuters reports that the Brazilian government will forgive approximately US$1.3 billion worth of debt owed to it by telecommunications firm Oi SA, which has been involved in a pending bankruptcy proceeding in Brazil since 2016. [Reuters; Nov. 27, 2020]
Reporting from Bloomberg indicates that boutique apparel chain Francesca’s Holdings Corp. is preparing to file for
Reporting from Bloomberg shows that during the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately $52 billion of rent under retail leases went unpaid. The reporting further indicates that in many instances, these rent obligations have been deferred through out-of-court agreements between landlords and tenants and that there may be an appetite for further relief
Mayer Brown partners Sean Scott and Aaron Gavant and associates Tyler Ferguson and Alexander Berk discussed the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas’ most recent decision arising out of the Ultra Petroleum Corp. bankruptcy case and its rulings that (1) make-whole premiums are allowed by the Bankruptcy Code under appropriate circumstances
CEC Entertainment, the parent company of kid-friendly and iconic “dinnertainment” restaurant and arcade chain—Chuck E. Cheese—sought and received Bankruptcy Court approval for three very unique settlement agreements, earlier this year, under which it will pay $2.3 million to three vendors to destroy roughly seven BILLION prize tickets – i.e., enough tickets to fill approximately 65 forty-foot cargo shipping containers.1 The backlog was caused by Chuck E. Cheese placing orders for tickets at pre-COVID utilization rates, the resulting pandemic and rapid fallout in sales, and, most generally, Chuck E. Cheese’s efforts to transition from physical tickets to contactless transactions, like “e-Tickets.”2
Continue Reading The Costs of Destruction: Bankruptcy Court Authorizes Chuck E. Cheese to Spend Millions on Destruction of Prize Tickets
Bloomberg reports that Revlon Inc. was able to exchange approximately $236.5 million of its $343 million in outstanding bonds that were scheduled to mature in 2021 in a deal that the company said should eliminate the need for a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the near future. [Bloomberg; Nov. 11, 2020]
The Washington Post reports
In Henry Hobbs Jr. v. Buffets LLC the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of a recent increase in United States Trustees fees that are charged to Chapter 11 debtors. The decision overruled a decision by the bankruptcy court, which held that the fee increase resulted in the application
In the November 2020 statement issued by its Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve committed to use the full range of tools available to it to alleviate the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, the Federal Reserve indicated that it intends to keep the target range for the federal reserve
Mayer Brown partners Sean Scott, Matt Wargin, and Aaron Gavant, counsel Craig Reimer, and associate Sam Rabuck discussed the recent decision in CNH Diversified Opportunities Master Account, L.P. v. Cleveland Unlimited, Inc. from New York’s highest appellate court, the Court of Appeals, and its potential impact on minority noteholder rights in connection with a strict
BJ Services, a Texas-based provider of hydraulic fracturing (i.e., “fracking”) and cementing services for upstream oil and gas companies, filed for chapter 11 protection on July 20, 2020, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, along with three of its affiliates. Their chapter 11 filings were prompted by unsuccessful restructuring negotiations with one of their equity sponsors—CSL Capital Management—which would have provided a $75 million new money investment, including $30 million in the form of DIP financing, in exchange for the majority of the reorganized equity. Citing commodity price volatility and an unmanageable capital structure, the debtors have been pursuing an orderly wind-down and confirmation of a chapter 11 liquidation plan, the cornerstone of which was a sale process for six asset packages: (a) cementing business; (b) fracking business; (c) certain equipment related to the cementing business; (d) certain equipment related to the fracking business; (e) shared lab equipment; and (f) other miscellaneous equipment (e.g., tractors).
Continue Reading BJ Services, LLC, et al.: Not-So-Smooth Sailing for Credit Bidders