Gibson Brands, Inc. Dba Gibson Guitars Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

*** UPDATE TO PREVIOUS ARTICLE *** Ending months of speculation concerning the future of the once iconic guitar manufacturing company, Gibson Brands, Inc., the parent of Gibson Guitars, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection earlier this week. The Nashville, TN-based company is said to have in excess of $100 million in outstanding debt (some reports say that such figure is at least five times greater than the reported amount). In a statement released by the company on Tuesday, CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said, “We are working Read More +

Connecticut – A Legacy of Debt and the Possibility of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

The State of Connecticut ended the 2017 fiscal year on a note of financial doom. As of the end of December, 2017, the state had the most underfunded pension system in the nation with over $127 billion in government-worker pension liabilities and no viable plan to institute needed reforms. Public-Worker Pensions – The BIG Problem: Pension woes are not the state’s only problem that threatens the economy, but they are the worst. The problem is huge, made up of the following critical components: pensions for Read More +

Chapter 9 Bankruptcy – Santa Cruz, Ca & Calpers Pension Crises

The City of Santa Cruz, CA is one of the latest municipalities to fall into what some have called a “…disturbing trend that will end in a full-fledged pension crisis” across the breadth and width of the nation. Santa Cruz is a California coastal community of 65,000 residents situated some 75 miles southwest of San Francisco. The small city, home to the University of California at Santa Cruz, is heavily dependent upon year-round tourist trade and not much else in the way of economic support. Read More +

Public Sector Pension Plans: A “ticking Time Bomb”

According to a December, 2017, washingtonfreebeacon.com report “…unfunded liabilities of state public pension funds increased by $433 billion over the past year and presently exceed $6 trillion…”. The report continues, “Unfunded liabilities of public pension plans continue to loom over state governments nationwide. Absent significant reforms, unfunded liabilities of state-administered pension plans will continue to grow and threaten the financial security of state retirees and taxpayers alike.” Astonishingly, the $6 trillion in unfunded liabilities average approximately $18,676.00 for every person in the United States. Alaska has Read More +

Winn-dixie to Close 94 Stores – Parent Company to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Florida-based Southeastern Grocers – the parent company of the Winn-Dixie grocery chain – announced yesterday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of March. Southeastern said it is “…implementing a court-supervised, pre-packaged” debt restructuring agreement after “conducting a thorough review of options for reducing our current debt”. The company expects to reduce current outstanding debt by approximately $500 million. In addition to Winn-Dixie, Southeastern Grocers also operates stores under the brand identities of BI-LO, Fresca y Mas and Harvey Supermarket with Read More +

Puerto Rico & Bankruptcy

The island of Puerto Rico is officially a Commonwealth of the United States. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States who share many of the same rights and benefits of their fellow citizens living on the mainland. Until February, 1898, Puerto Rico had been under the colonial rule of Spain for centuries. In that year and month, Spain granted them a quasi-independent status. The welcome status under the rule of the Spanish Kingdom came with a constitution, voting rights, and a theretofore unknown sense Read More +

Harvey Weinstein / the Weinstein Company – Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the Offing As Sale Talks Fail

“Born under a bad sign, been down since I began to crawl if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all…” (“Born Under a Bad Sign” -Original Version, Albert King, 1967; covered by Cream, 1968) Today, Albert King’s song might seem like the “anthem” of (former) movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and, by extension, his former corporation The Weinstein Company LLC (more universally referred to, and known more simply as TWC). According to online news / gossip source TMZ.com, The Weinstein Company Read More +

Hcr Manorcare, Inc. – $7 Billion in Debt – Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

HCR Manorcare, Inc., the second largest nursing home operator in the United States, has filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The Toledo, Ohio-based company has $7 billion in debt.. Informed sources say the Chapter 11 petition is part of a pre-arranged debt-for-equity swap deal whereby ownership of the HCR will be transferred to its landlord, Quality Care Properties, Inc. (“QCP”). According to the QCP website, the company is “…a self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT)… focused on post-acute/skilled nursing and memory Read More +

Remington Outdoor, Co. (remington Arms) Set to File Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Iconic arms manufacturer Remington Outdoor Company (operated for nearly two hundred years as the Remington Arms Company) is on the brink of filing a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Remington Outdoor is headquartered in Madison, NC. The company’s original intent was to begin solicitation for the plan on March 5, 2018, with the bankruptcy filing to follow on March 7th. Those dates were set back one week (March 12th for start of solicitation and March 14th for filing for Chapter 11 protection) after Bank Read More +

Bon-ton Stores, Inc. – Demise or New Lease on Life After Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing?

Earlier this week, The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. took its multi-chain brand of department stores into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The action makes the regional chain of department stores the largest retailer to seek such protection this year. CNBC reported, in the immediate aftermath of the Chapter 11 filing,that the chain “…has been burdened with massive debt as it has struggled to grow sales and move operations online in the face of Amazon”. In 2017, approximately twenty major retail chains, including The Limited, Radio Shack, Hhgregg, Gordman’s, Read More +