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 advisory firms recently opened with locations in Massachusetts and New Jersey. [Bloomberg; July 7, 2021]
On July 7, 2021, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas confirmed Griddy Energy LLC’s plan of reorganization. A key element of the plan is the debtor’s release of certain customer obligations to pay power bills incurred during the unprecedented winter storm Uri. [U.S. Bankruptcy Court S.D. Tex.; July 7, 2021]
Reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicates that Medley LLC, a unit of publicly traded Medley Management Inc., expects to wind down its business operations in connection with its pending chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Although the debtor initially proposed a plan of reorganization centered around a debt-for-equity swap, that plan was withdrawn and replaced with a liquidating plan. [WSJ; July 7, 2021]
Forbes reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments in Conti v. Arrowood Indemnity Co., a case involving a borrower who tried to discharge approximately $76,000 worth of private student loans in bankruptcy. As a result, the existing standard for student loan discharges—which requires that a debtor seeking to discharge their loans show that continued payments would impose an “undue hardship”—will remain in place for the time being. [Forbes; June 28, 2021]