Bloomberg reports on shifting dynamics in the retail sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the transition that certain financial advisory firms have made from advising on liquidating retail assets to sourcing and selling goods at brick-and-mortar retail locations they operate. The article highlights a new off-price department store, Shopper’s Find, that two global financial
CNBC analyzes the Labor Department’s latest jobs report, which showed 850,000 jobs gained in the U.S. in June, much higher than economists expected. The hospitality sector, particularly bars and restaurants, accounted for the largest share of employment gains, with education and professional services also seeing increased employment. The article notes that hiring has accelerated as
Bloomberg Law analyzes how middle-market companies may be unable to address upcoming supply chain disruption shifts, leading to an increase in bankruptcy filings. [Bloomberg Law; June 22, 2021]
The Wall Street Journal discusses how the pandemic altered retail shopping habits, and the anticipated closure by 2025 of half of remaining mall-based retailers. [WSJ; June 25,
The Wall Street Journal discusses the $11.2 trillion in outstanding corporate debt, and considers whether companies that took advantage of “cheap money” this past year merely delayed a reckoning coming in the next economic downturn. [WSJ; June 14, 2021]
CNN Business covers the bankruptcy filing of Washington Prime Group, an owner of more than 100
Reuters reports that eleven U.S. airlines collectively issued $12.84 billion in cash refunds to customers in 2020 for flights canceled during the pandemic. The cash refunds come on top of billions of dollars of travel credits that are now being used at a rapid pace. [Reuters; May 28, 2021]
The New York Times reports that
Bloomberg reports that shareholders in Latam Airlines Group SA’s chapter 11 case have organized into an ad hoc committee and hired the same counsel that represented equity holders in Hertz. Shareholders see the potential for the Latam bankruptcy to produce a recovery to common equity; similar to Hertz, Latam is a travel company, was in
The Wall Street Journal reports on the winning bid in the 36-hour auction for control of Hertz in anticipation of its emergence from bankruptcy later this summer. The winning bidders, a group of co-investors led by Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management, will buy the bulk of Hertz’s equity upon emergence for $2.8 billion. Assuming
The Wall Street Journal reports that hedge-fund founder, Dan Kamensky, was sentenced to six months in prison for bankruptcy fraud in connection with his attempt to quash a competing bid for shares of Neiman Marcus subsidiary MyTheresa during Neiman’s bankruptcy case. As a member of the official unsecured creditors’ committee, Kamensky had a fiduciary obligation
Bloomberg reported that USA Gymnastics asked the Southern District of Indiana Bankruptcy Court to enforce the automatic stay and enjoin litigation filed by four plaintiffs seeking to hold the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) liable for sexual abuse committed by convicted child sexual predator Larry Nassar. USA Gymnastics said allowing the litigation to proceed
The Wall Street Journal reported that the wave of cash raised by special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) is fueling activity in the junk debt market at levels not seen since the dot.com-boom from two decades ago. So far this year, SPACs have issued roughly $100 billion of stock to purchase private companies and take them public,