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☆ Bed Bath & Beyond to Shut Down Canadian Stores in Bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Soma Biswas | Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s Canadian division will shut down its stores under court protection after the company received an unusual lifeline earlier this week to save its U.S. operations from bankruptcy. The troubled retailer filed its Canadian division for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s rough equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bed Bath & Beyond has “reluctantly concluded” that even with the lifeline of its recent equity raise, there isn’t enough capital available both to restructure its U.S. business and bring the Canadian business to profitability, the company said in filings with an Ontario court.

☆ Russia accuses Nord Stream blast investigators of cover-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that European countries were trying to hide the results of their investigations into last year's blasts on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, accusing them of covering up who was to blame. The blasts, which are being investigated by Swedish and Danish authorities, could put three of Nord Stream 1 and 2's four undersea lines permanently out of use. Moscow had asked Stockholm to be allowed to join the investigation, but both Sweden and Denmark rejected the idea of Russian participation. Construction of Nord Stream 2, designed to carry Russian gas to Germany, was completed in September 2021. Swedish and other European investigators say the attacks were carried out on purpose, but they have not said who they think was responsible.

☆ The Investor Behind the $1 Billion Bet on Bed Bath & Beyond
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Gregory Zuckerman | Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bed Bath & Beyond is shutting dozens more stores as part of its plan to stay in business. Why would a well-established hedge fund and other investors spend as much as $1 billion to purchase the equity of a retailer on the verge of bankruptcy—a move that could wipe out that equity? That is what some on Wall Street are asking after Hudson Bay Capital Management and others agreed to invest in struggling Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond put together a financing package that gives it some breathing room as it struggles to survive. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. couldn’t get banks to lend it money, but the troubled retailer found one hedge fund willing to bet on its stock. Bed Bath & Beyond landed a do-or-die rescue deal that takes bankruptcy off the table for now. Shares, which have surged in recent weeks despite the company’s dire situation, tumbled by nearly 50% early Tuesday as the new financing will dilute existing shareholders.

Bed Bath & Beyond put together a financing package that gives it some breathing room as it struggles to survive. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. couldn’t get banks to lend it money, but the troubled retailer found investors willing to bet on its survival. Bed Bath & Beyond landed a do-or-die rescue deal that takes bankruptcy off the table for now. Shares, which have surged in recent weeks despite the company’s dire situation, tumbled by nearly 50% early Tuesday as the new financing will dilute existing shareholders.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has secured investor backing for a more than $1 billion capital raise to stave off bankruptcy and try to turn around its flagging business, people familiar with the matter said. The offering of convertible stock and warrants, coupled with a $100 million additional credit line from one of its lenders, is expected to save the troubled retailer from the near-term chapter 11 filing it has warned about for weeks. Bed Bath & Beyond has received investor commitments to raise $225 million of equity capital initially and the rest of the more than $1 billion offering over time, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. will try to raise more than $1 billion by selling stock, hoping investors who have propelled its stock higher despite its financial troubles can save it from bankruptcy. The offering of stock and warrants, coupled with a $100 million additional credit line from one of its lenders, could help the troubled retailer raise enough cash to avoid the chapter 11 filing it has warned about for weeks. Bed Bath said Monday that it can’t give any assurances it will receive any or all of the proceeds of the equity offering, which is subject to market conditions and not guaranteed to be completed.

☆ Washington Property Linked to FTX Customer Funds Pulled From Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Akiko Matsuda | Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Washington, D.C., townhouse that FTX’s new management has linked to Sam Bankman-Fried‘s political spending has been pulled off the market after the company alleged that the $3.3 million property was purchased with FTX customer funds. Property records show the four-bedroom, 4,100-square-foot property in Capitol Hill is owned by Guarding Against Pandemics, a nonprofit organization founded by Mr. Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabriel. FTX’s newly appointed management team said in a court filing last month that Guarding Against Pandemics was also funded by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and that the organization purchased a multimillion-dollar property using what the company believes are misappropriated customer funds.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. said Friday it was closing an additional 87 of its flagship stores and its entire Harmon chain of drugstores, as the retailer struggles to find financial support to keep its operations funded. The latest closings are in addition to a plan announced in August to shut 150 lower-performing Bed Bath & Beyond locations, a spokeswoman said. The company said Friday it is also closing five of its Buybuy Baby stores. The company had about 50 Harmon stores as of February 2022.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s path to restructure its business in bankruptcy is narrowing, as the home-goods retailer struggles to find financial support to keep its operations funded and avoid liquidation, people familiar with the matter said. The company, which is expected to file for bankruptcy soon, faces limited options to reorganize as a going concern, these people said: Its lenders have cut off credit, it hasn’t secured a buyer to acquire its business, it is struggling to raise financing to survive chapter 11 even in shrunken form and many vendors have stopped shipping goods to the retailer. Discussions are continuing and a financing deal could still materialize, these people said.

☆ Canada judge calls into question regulator's argument to block Rogers-Shaw deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Maiya Keidan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TORONTO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Canada federal judge called into question the competition bureau's argument to block Rogers Communications Inc's (RCIb.TO) C$20 billion ($14.9 billion) bid for Shaw Communications Inc (SJRb.TO) as the court hearing kicked off on Tuesday. But the bureau failed to convince the competition tribunal, a quasi court that handles merger disputes, that the deal is harmful for Canadian consumers. "According to the tribunal, this was not a particularly close case," the judge told the court on Tuesday. "I think the appeal is going to be dismissed," said Michael Osborne, a competition lawyer at law firm Cozen O'Connor. A spokesperson for the competition bureau declined to comment while the matter was before the court.

☆ Former McDonald's restaurants reopen without branding in Kazakhstan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/6] A view shows a fast food restaurant, which used to operate under the McDonald's brand and reopened with no branding weeks after the U.S. company left the local market, in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 23, 2023. REUTERS/Pavel MikheyevALMATY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Several restaurants which used to operate under the McDonald's (MCD.N) brand in Kazakhstan reopened on Monday with no branding to serve fast food under generic names such as "Cheeseburger", weeks after the U.S. company left the local market. McDonald's and Food Solutions KZ terminated their licence agreement this month, citing supply issues. Sources earlier told Reuters that McDonald's Kazakhstan had stopped buying supplies from Russia and had trouble replacing them. Food Solutions KZ did not say on Monday whether it has replaced any components such as beef patties with Kazakh produce, and declined to comment on any questions not addressed in its statement.

☆ AMC Seeks New Lifeline After Meme-Stock Bubble Pops
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The meme-stock phenomenon is on its last legs, and no company is feeling the comedown more than movie-theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.AMC deftly surfed the meme-stock wave to raise billions of dollars and help it avoid bankruptcy during the pandemic, but its shares have sunk back to roughly where they were trading before the company caught fire in the online trading community. Box-office receipts are falling short, and the meme-stock premium that helped AMC raise fresh capital has all but evaporated.

☆ Russia's rebranded McDonald's may expand into Kazakhstan after McDonald's reportedly banned its restaurants there from selling Russian meat, forcing them to close
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fast-food chain Vkusno & Tochka replaced some of McDonald's restaurants in Russia after they all closed. Alexander Govor, a Russian businessperson, bought Russia's closed McDonald's restaurants in May and rebranded them as Vkusno & Tochka, which translates as "tasty and that's it." Pavel Mikheyev/Getty ImagesMcDonald's confirmed to Insider that its contract with Food Solutions had been terminated. Kazakh news outlet Tengrinews, however, reported that Food Solutions' director said the company didn't plan to rebrand its restaurants as Vkusno & tochka. The chain said in December, however, that it was working on a substitute for McDonald's trademark Big Mac.

☆ Russia's McDonald's successor applies for trademark in Kazakhstan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ASTANA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Vkusno & tochka, the Russian successor brand to McDonald's (MCD.N), has applied to have its trademarks registered in neighbouring Kazakhstan following the U.S. company's exit from its market, the Kazakh government said on Monday. McDonald's and its Kazakh licensee terminated their agreement this month, citing supply issues. Sources earlier told Reuters McDonald's Kazakhstan had stopped buying supplies from Russia and had trouble replacing them. McDonald's closed its Russian restaurants soon after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last February, eventually selling to a local licensee, Alexander Govor, who unveiled the Vkusno & tochka brand in June. Reporting by Tamara Vaal; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 411 is going out of service for millions of Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Starting in January, AT&T customers with digital landlines won’t be able to dial 411 or 0 to reach an operator or get directory assistance. The human telephone operator, a job that came to be dominated by White women during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 2021, there were fewer than 4,000 telephone operators, down from a peak of around 420,000 in the 1970s, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. “0” became universal for operator assistance and “411” was the number for directory assistance. By 2004, at the dawn of the smartphone age, 56,000 people were employed as telephone operators.

☆ Cineworld Grapples With Box-Office Slump as It Seeks a Sale in Bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Akiko Matsuda | Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bankrupt movie-theater chain Cineworld Group PLC said it continues to miss its box-office projections due to challenging market conditions as it gears up to sell itself out of chapter 11. Joshua Sussberg, a lawyer for U.K.-based Cineworld, owner of Regal Cinemas, told Judge Marvin Isgur of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday that the company’s restructuring effort since its bankruptcy filing in September has been hindered by the lackluster box-office performance.

☆ Financial Firm Beneficient Pushed Boundaries Before Bond Program’s Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ AMC Held Talks About Acquiring Theaters From Bankrupt Cineworld
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. held discussions regarding a potential strategic acquisition of theaters from its rival, the bankrupt Cineworld Group PLC, according to a securities filing by AMC on Wednesday. AMC’s deal talks were held with certain lenders to Cineworld, who have a powerful role in that company’s bankruptcy process. The talks focused on AMC acquiring theater assets of Cineworld in the U.S. and Europe, and how such a deal would be financed.

The deal McDonald's struck with former licensee Alexander Govor included a set of requirements the new brand, Vkusno & tochka, must stick to, including restrictions on branding, colour scheme and product usage. New owner Alexander Govor said this week he and the management team regularly talk over video link to the former parent company. "We are not talking about how they somehow participate in our business, this is already done," Vkusno & tochka, which translates to "Tasty & that's it," CEO Oleg Paroev told Reuters. In a statement to Reuters, McDonald's said it fully exited the Russian market earlier this year. Russian authorities in June said McDonald's has an option to buy back its Russia restaurants within 15 years.

Avaya Holdings Corp. is nearing a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to restructure its balance sheet as it looks to turn around its business and move past problems surrounding the company’s accounting, people familiar with the matter said. Avaya disclosed earlier this week it has reviewed various restructuring proposals from competing creditor groups. One plan, supported by a senior lender group including Apollo Global Management , would significantly reduce Avaya’s debt load through chapter 11, wipe out shareholders and, pending the completion of an internal investigation into controls over financial reporting, provide directors and executives with releases from potential litigation.

☆ Russia’s McDonald’s successor replacing Big Mac with ‘Big Hit’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Starved of Big Macs since McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) closed its Russian restaurants in March, Russians will from next year be treated to an alternative from the burger chain’s successor - the "Big Hit". Vkusno & tochka, or "Tasty & that's it", on Monday said the Big Hit would be available from February and a similar product to the McDonald’s Happy Meal would be making a comeback as "Kids' Combo". McDonald's closed its Russian restaurants soon after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February, eventually selling to a local licensee, Alexander Govor, who unveiled the new brand in June. Since acquiring Russia's McDonald's restaurants, Govor has snapped up Finnish packaging company Huhtamaki's (HUH1V.HE) Russian business and a logistics firm, set to be renamed "Logistics & that's it". Some Vkusno & tochka restaurants had to take fries off the menu earlier this year when faced with a potato shortage.

☆ Western officials and Ankara are in talks after stand-off on oil tanker pile-up near Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The UK, US, and EU are working with Ankara to clear an oil tanker pile-up in Turkish waters. EU's $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude kicked in Monday, which is impacting shipping and insurance. Most vessels in Turkish waters now are loaded with oil from Kazakhstan, not Russia, two Western officials told the Financial Times on Thursday. It is considering several options to counter the price cap, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing two sources close to the cabinet. Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko also weighed in on the matter, saying Russia's concerned about the congestion off Turkey.

[1/2] Oil product tanker Lila Fujairah sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk IsikCompanies Ingosstrakh SPAO FollowLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Western officials are in talks with Turkish counterparts to resolve oil tanker queues off Turkey, a British Treasury official said, after the G7 and European Union rolled out new restrictions on Dec. 5 aimed at Russian oil exports. "The UK, U.S. and EU are working closely with the Turkish government and the shipping and insurance industries to clarify the implementation of the Oil Price Cap and reach a resolution," the official told Reuters. At least 20 oil tankers continue to face delays to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean as operators race to adhere to the Turkish rules. "The (insurers) have agreed that they cannot and should not issue such a letter," UK P&I said in a statement on its website.

☆ FTX Hires Forensic Team to Probe Money Trail
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

FTX’s new management has hired a team of forensic investigators from advisory firm AlixPartners to help track the billions of dollars that have gone missing from the failed cryptocurrency exchange, people familiar with the matter said. The AlixPartners team is led by Matt Jacques, a former chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Jacques didn’t respond to a request for comment. AlixPartners...

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