Monthly Archives: October 2019

RIYADH (Reuters) - The merit of Saudi Arabias new bankruptcy law, part of efforts to help the kingdom attract investors, should become clearer in about a year after courts handle initial cases, a World Bank representative and senior government official told Reuters.

FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 14, 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

A lack of modern bankruptcy regulations had created difficulties for struggling companies seeking to restructure debt with creditors since the 2009 global financial crisis and the more recent dip in oil prices.

Legislation introduced in 2018 is part of broader efforts to overhaul the economy of the worlds top oil exporter to entice foreign investment, create jobs for young Saudis and diversify into non-oil industries.

They have started on insolvency, said Simeon Djankov, World Bank senior research director and founder of the Doing Business report, which on Thursday ranked Saudi Arabias business climate the most improved over the previous year.

The law has been passed, secondary legislation was already passed. Now we need to see whether the courts actually understand how to implement it.

Djankov said only three cases had been settled and around a dozen others are currently in the courts. Several dozen more, expected to be resolved over the next year, should provide enough evidence to evaluate the laws success, he added.

The two main open cases involve conglomerates Saad Group, owned by indebted billionaire Maan al-Sanea, and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB), which defaulted on about $22 billion in combined debt in 2009.

Resolving insolvency was an area of improvement for Saudi Arabia, climbing 30 places to 62nd in the World Bank report which showed sharp improvement in other Gulf countries and a lag in Latin America.

Eiman al-Mutairi, who heads Saudi Arabias National Competitiveness Center, said she expects further advances next year as the bankruptcy law and other reforms come fully on line, including a building code law and planned amendments to licensing regimes.

Are we there yet? No. Do we want to do more? Absolutely, said Mutairi, who is one of the highest-ranking women in the Saudi government. Hopefully this is only the beginning.

She attributed the jump in Saudi Arabias standing to authorities efforts to cater their reforms to the private sectors concerns.

Maybe weve worked with investors many years ago but sometimes we just dont listen to them, she said. Lets face it: we did not listen to the investor.

Reporting by Stephen Kalin, Editing by William Maclean

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Saudi Arabia's new bankruptcy law faces key test in the courts - Reuters

Yet even as its errors abroad became clear, Mr. Chang and his real estate counterparts bet on even more United States stores. An internal playbook from 2015 described the retailers plans for a new strip mall chain called F21 Red that would target mothers under 35. Its $1.80 camisoles and $7.80 jeans were meant to swipe at the Irish retailer Primark, which entered the United States that year.

The playbook showed that six stores were already open, and that Forever 21 planned to open 35 more that year, including in regular malls, which was a surprise to the employees who had planned F21 Red. By 2017, several new F21 Red stores were posting sales that were around 50 percent below company projections, internal sales reports show.

That year, Forever 21 also introduced a beauty chain, Riley Rose, that was viewed as the companys next wave of growth and sought to capitalize on the boom in Korean skin care products. It was created by Linda and Esther Chang and called ground-breaking in the bankruptcy filing, which grouped its sales with the slumping international division.

While former employees praised the sisters work ethic, they said that Riley Rose, which had 15 stores this year, was an expensive gamble in high-priced malls and struggled to maintain vendor relationships. The company told The Times last month that Riley Rose may end up as a store within Forever 21 locations. It has filed to reject leases for nine previously planned Riley Rose locations.

Mrs. Changs side of the business was also making errors with the sprawling store base. Merchandising was based on the previous years sales, and Forever 21 bought too little inventory in 2017, then too much in 2018, the filing said. It also duplicated merchandise by designing for styles like weekend or work looks, rather than categories like tops or dresses.

Forever 21 had about 6,400 full-time employees and 26,400 part-time employees when it filed, numbers that will likely shrink throughout the bankruptcy process. Forever 21 said that it would change how it merchandises, winnow its operations to the United States, Mexico and Latin America, aim to increase e-commerce sales to more than just 16 percent of the business and take other cost-cutting measures. When it filed, the company owed $347 million to its vendors.

And the Chang family will be listening to new voices. Its board of directors will grow from three members Mr. Chang, Linda Chang and Mr. Ok to six, including Forever 21s former head of real estate, a lawyer and the former chief executive of Things Remembered. It also said that it had added several new managers in recent months, including a new chief financial officer. Mr. Chang remains the chief executive.

Forever 21 has basically been a one-trick pony, Mr. Cohen said. The founder and his wife did remarkably well until the business got too big for them to continue to do remarkably well by themselves.

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One Family Built Forever 21, and Fueled Its Collapse - The New York Times

High Wire is Maia Szalavitz's reported opinion column on drugs and drug policy.

The most important questions remaining in the many lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors are not about how much the final payouts will beclearly, huge sums of money are coming. Instead, they center on who exactly will get the funds and whether they will be spent effectively. Many of the fiercest battles lie ahead.

Surprisingly, however, early signs from the bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharmathe manufacturer of Oxycontin and one of the key players in starting the overdose epidemicsuggest that at least the first multimillion-dollar payment might quickly go exactly where it is needed: to programs that work to preserve the lives and health of people with addiction, regardless of whether they're abstinent.

Boosting funding to such organizationsknown as harm reduction programscould kickstart a long-overdue revolution in the way we care for and treat addiction in the U.S.

The details are complicated, as you might expect in litigation with 2,600 states, cities, counties, and other localities all seeking a piece of multi-billion-dollar Big Pharma pie. Many of the plaintiffs argue that Purdue's filing for bankruptcy will deprive them of a just settlement. They would prefer that Purdues riches remain part of the spoils that will be divided in another case against opioid manufacturers and distributors, which is known as the opioid multi-district litigation (MDL) and may be settled this week.

Despite those objections, Judge Robert Drain of the United States Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, accepted Purdues bankruptcy filing and has begun to forge a plan to distribute its billions. On October 11, he agreed to a stay in the bankruptcy case to give the parties time to work out major disagreements.

One advantage of distributing the money via bankruptcy, rather than through civil and criminal cases, is that stricter conditions can be set on spending. Bankruptcy has guardrails on it to make sure that how it plays out will be open, will be public, and will be as equitable as possible, said Lindsey Simon, assistant professor of law at the University of Georgia School of Law and an expert on bankruptcy.

The tobacco settlement of 1998 is an example of what can happen without such guardrails: $246 billion was expected to be paid out over 25 years to fight smoking but, for example, in the current fiscal year, less than 3 percent of the money went to prevention or treatment of tobacco addiction. That is not atypical. Most money just went into states general budgets, and some Southern states even used settlement funds to support tobacco marketing.

Via bankruptcy, Purdues money will become part of a trust. A recently appointed committee of nine membersincluding four people with personal or family experience of opioid addictionwill help determine how that money is spent, though the judge has to approve their decisions. In the case stipulation agreed upon by that committee and by Purdue, a plan was proposed to make a $200 million fund available within six months for harm reduction and addiction recovery groups.

If the terms are accepted by the other parties, like state and local governments, that $200 million would be the biggest amount ever spent to support programs that dont require people to be abstinent before they can receive helpa group far larger at any given time than those currently ready or able to completely quit. (According to Simon, the parties seem reasonably likely to agree to these terms because its a relatively small sum of money compared to almost-certain multi-billion-dollar settlements and, strategically, they know they have to pick their battles).

The impact of this money would be huge, said Daniel Raymond, deputy director of planning and policy at the Harm Reduction Coalition, whose group would help vet harm reduction agencies for funding, It would be the single largest infusion of resources into harm reduction that we've ever seen in this country.

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The stipulation directs the money to two specific types of groupsharm reduction centers and recovery community organizations (RCOs).

Harm reduction centers typically provide clean needles, access to the overdose reversal drug, naloxone, and, if they were to be legalized, many would operate overdose prevention sites, where people could use drugs under medical supervision to prevent overdose deaths. RCOs, meanwhile, are aimed at people who want to stop problematic drug use or sustain abstinence, but unlike traditional self-help groups, they dont prescribe one specific way to recover and dont reject people who aren't seeking abstinence. Neither of these types of services are widely available in the current treatment system. A grant application process will be devised to allow appropriate groups to get funded.

Importantly, the money wouldnt simply fund existing for-profit treatment programs, which rarely use evidence-based approaches, are too-frequently outright fraudulent, and often decry the use of medications like methadone and buprenorphine, which are the only treatments proven to cut the death rate by 50 percent or more.

All of the centers in question would offer referrals and ease connections to other services like healthcare and addiction treatment; some actually provide buprenorphine and other medical treatment themselves. Some provide housing or referrals to housing that doesn't require abstinence: the main idea being that people who use drugs deserve humane treatment and that treating people kindly often results in them treating themselves better.

Because harm reduction is often seen as controversialsome argue that it enables drug use, even though research shows that participants are more likely to recover than those who dont access these programssignificant funding would help boost its legitimacy and sustain groups that often run on a shoestring budget.

For decades, for example, federal funding of syringe service programs was banned and many states still restrict iteven though syringe programs have helped reverse HIV epidemics in many states and countries, including New York, which once had the worlds largest epidemic among people who inject drugs.

While noting that the money is only a drop in the bucket in terms of helping those harmed by the epidemic, former Obama administration drug czar and now executive director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, Michael Botticelli said that the funding of harm reduction and recovery support could be an important sign of whats to come in the overall settlement.

Regina LaBelle, director of the addiction and public policy institute at Georgetown University and also a former senior Obama drug policy official, said that even though $200 million is not a lot in light of the overall settlement, Its going to make a difference. She notes that right now, many of the groups that would be eligible for this money are so small they need to have bake sales and other small-scale fundraisers just to be able to afford needles and other necessary supplies.

Typically, the recovery community organizations that stand to get funding have meetings for people with various goals, including 12-step groups and alternatives. They also provide and sometimes train peer coaches who can work one-on-one with folks who want that type of care. These coaches are taught to advocate for their clients when navigating the healthcare, addiction treatment, and other social-service bureaucraciesand to not impose their own ideas about what recovery should be. They may also provide naloxone or refer people to harm-reduction services. Generally, these groups are run by people in recovery themselves or family members.

Nothing is mandatory, said Dona Dmitrovic, executive director of the Foundation for Recovery in Las Vegas, which provided RCO services to 4,000 people last year. As in harm reduction, the idea is to meet people where they are and offer help accordingly.

If, for example, someone wants medication treatment, they work with doctors and programs that provide that. If someone needs shelter or mental health care, they help them access those services. To be eligible for this settlement funding, RCOs need to have been previously recognized by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which requires using evidence-based practices.

If these two kinds of groups do receive significant funding from the Purdue bankruptcy, it could help bring long-overdue change to the addiction treatment system, which is still overwhelmingly dominated by inpatient and outpatient rehab programs that are focused on getting people to accept the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) as the one way to recover.

This ideology has been especially problematic for people with opioid use disorder because NAs official policy is that people taking medication like bupe arent considered to be in recovery, which means they are not permitted to speak, even from the floor at many meetings. The group actually encourages ending medication usedespite the fact that continuing with buprenorphine or methadone doubles peoples chances of survival.

Harm reduction groups and RCOs offer a real alternative. And, as they become more and more visible, people with addiction and their families will be more likely to vote with their feet and choose treatment that isnt one-size-fits-all. That will pressure other programs to either change for the betteror fold.

While $200 million isnt much in the scheme of harm from the opioid epidemic, and more also needs to be done to help pain patients, in the hands of groups that have never received adequate funding, it could be a tremendous step forward. And one that could finally shift the system toward providing care that actually works.

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The Bankruptcy Money From the Makers of Oxycontin Might Actually Save Lives - Vice News

DAPHNE, Ala. (WALA) - Looking for ways out of financial problems related to a stagnant golf

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) The once-prosperous TimberCreek Golf Club continues to struggle financially as it navigates a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

The owner of the course, nestled in the upscale TimberCreek subdivision in Daphne, filed for bankruptcy protection in August.

In a Bankruptcy Court filing earlier this month, the clubs owner Bradley Investments listed almost $1.75 million in assets against debts exceeding $3.3 million.

Those debts include more than $2.5 million owed to so-called secured creditors, who have higher priority, and lower-priority unsecured claims of more than $800,000.

A status conference is scheduled for next week in the case. Ronald Clifford, a lawyer representing a committee of unsecured creditors, also could not immediately be reached for comment.

Owner Rob Bradley told FOX10 News that he does not know how long it might take to go through the bankruptcy process.

It is a situation that is very fluid. But were very optimistic that were going to get through this, he said.

Bradley said the course as struggled amid a national decline in golfing interest.

TimberCreek is not unique, he said. Thousands of courses are going through this across the country.

TimberCreek Golf Club in Daphne.

According to the National Golf Foundation, almost 200 golf courses across the country closed last year, cutting the golf course supply by 1.2 percent from the previous year. That continued a trend that dates back several years. Since 2006, according to the organizations Golf Industry Report, closures have outpaced new courses.

The report attributed the trend partly to an unsustainable 20-year building boom that saw the construction of 4,000 courses in the years running up to the bust.

Even before TimberCreek filed for bankruptcy, there have been signs of financial problems. Last year, the golf club asked the neighborhood property owners association to support a $600 annual fee to help support the golf course.

That sparked blowback from homeowners opposed to bailing out a private business.

Bradley told FOX10 News in January that an annual assessment would help the golf course and, as a result, boost property values.

The route were choosing right now is simply a volunteer basis. Maybe down the road well talk about something more formal or more structured, he said at the time.

Bradley on Wednesday said he remains hopeful that a deal can be worked out with the homeowners association. He said that is the route that successful golf courses have taken. He added that the association has sent a survey to homeowners to gauge support.

Ultimately, Bradley said, it is about the neighborhood protecting an asset that adds to the value of the properties. Without the course, he said, You lose that premium.

Among the companys debts are unpaid taxes. The initial filing listed $67,097 owed to the Alabama Department of Revenue, $25,426 owed to Baldwin County in sales taxes and $31,266 owed to the city of Daphne.

The largest individual creditor is a Maryland partnership known as McCormick 109 LLC, to which TimberCreek owes more than $500,000 after deducting $1.5 million in collateral. The mortgage company specializes in acquiring and managing loans and distressed debt, according to its articles of incorporation.

The second-biggest creditor is another mortgage company, First Home Bank Laon Operations in St. Petersburg, Florida. The listed debt is $287,057.

The bankruptcy filing also lists Bradley as a creditor to the tune of $122,966. He said that is a reflection of the fact that he has much of his own money at stake trying to save the golf course.

In the end, the future of TimberCreek might come down to the willingness of the neighborhoods residents to subsidize it. Asked if that was a necessary component of any successful bankruptcy reorganization, Bradley said, Thats a good question.

All content 2019, WALA; Mobile, AL. (A Meredith Corporation Station). All Rights Reserved.

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TimberCreek Golf Club in Daphne struggles with debts as it navigates bankruptcy - FOX10 News

Welcome to The Backroom, your window into what goes on behind the scenes as the Retail Dive team covers the stories and trends reshaping retail. You can check out all our podcast episodes (past and present) here and listen on iTunes or Stitcher.

This fall, reporter Ben Unglesbee set out to compile a list of distressed retailers at risk of bankruptcy. It's a practice Retail Dive has done since the summer of 2017, and bankruptcy as a topic is an ongoing story the team researches, investigates and discusses.

To compile the list, our team uses data provided by CreditRiskMonitor, which analyzes companies in terms of their FRISK score a measurement based on factors including credit rating, stock volatility and other financial metrics to determine the probability of a bankruptcy filing. Eight to 12 retailers are typically revealed to be at risk. This year, 28 retailers were on the list.

The results were so surprising that Unglesbee went back to CreditRiskMonitor to double check that there were no changes in FRISK methodology. There weren't.

As reporter Daphne Howland looked at the list, she was curious as to why so many of the named retailers were apparel companies. The results fed into her reportingabout how specialty clothing businesses are getting hit especially hard as the industry puts up record numbers of store closures.

On this episode,Unglesbee and Howland discuss the reporting behind the list, the apparel industry's reckoning and personal experiences when shopping for clothes.

The Backroom with Retail Dive is a sponsored podcast. The sponsor has no influence over Retail Dive's coverage, and content does not reflect the views or opinions of the sponsor's employees.

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The Backroom: The looming threat of retail bankruptcies - Retail Dive

On Sept. 22 Smaaash go-carts at Mall of America abruptly closed its doors. Based in India, the company hasno other U.S. locations andleft no forwarding information on how to contact it. That left Randy Kraemer of Rosemount wondering if he had any recourse. "I'm sitting on a $100 gift card," he said. "How do I get a refund now that Smaaash@MOA is closed?"

That's a question that consumers need to be asking about any unused gift card, especially as more retailers and restaurants close their doors withoutwarning, leaving consumers with a worthless piece of plastic.

We all know weshould redeem gift cards quickly, so why don't we? "People don't keep them handy," said Shelley Hunter, a gift card expert at Giftcards.com. People should keep them next to the debit or credit cards theyuse most often or add them to theirmobile wallet. "If you don't want to carry them around, put them by your computer so they're available when you're shopping online," she said.

Few consumers foresawSmaaash's closing, even though scattered news reports mentioned that it was behind on payments to the Mall of America and the Minnesota Vikings. But retailers that have announced select store closings should put consumers onalert.

Rumors of Gander Mountain's bankruptcy started in March 2017 and people could still redeem its gift cards, but by May, the stores quit accepting them. Now almost40 of 200 Gander Outdoors stores, which emerged from Gander Mountain'sbankruptcy, arein the process of closing nationwide. The Eden Prairie and Bemidji stores will close soon.

CreditMonitorRisk.com put Gander's parent company Camping World on a list of companies with a high chance of bankruptcy. Other retailers on the list? Christopher & Banks, J Crew, Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney, Pier One and Rite Aid. Retailers with an elevated risk include Express, Francesca's, J. Jill, Container Store, Kirkland's, Sears, GNC, At Home and Build-A-Bear. Forever 21 recently filed for bankruptcy.

Even retailers that aren't on a bankruptcy watch list close stores, includingLowe's, Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens, but Hunter said no gift card should collect dust in today's retail climate.

Restaurants are no different. National chains that have closed locations in 2019 include Famous Dave's, Applebee's, Noodles, Tim Hortons, Papa John's and Subway. Locally, Libertine, Revolution Hall, It's Greek to Me, Sporty's Pub & Grill and Corner Table have closed.

This year Boston Market closed its last Twin Cities locations in Bloomington and Roseville, leaving gift card holders stranded. When a company still has locations open in other cities, consumers can trying selling theirsfor a discount on sites such as Giftcardgranny, Cardpool and Raise.

Holders of Smaaash gift cards can email info@mallofamerica for a refund. Kraemer said he got a response from MOAand Smaaash should be issuing his checksoon. For retailers or restaurants that have already closed, Consumer Reports said it's difficult to collect. It's better to use agift cardbefore a troubled retailer such as Sears or Camping World (Gander Outdoors) starts a company-wide liquidation. "Some people want towait until the liquidation starts to max out the savings, but gift cards are often not accepted once the liquidation starts," Hunter said.

With the holidays approaching, redeeming gift cards now is a sound strategy because many retailers and restaurants give up the ghost in December and January ifholiday sales disappoint.

For those with a dusty Toys R Us gift card who are excited about the toy company's return during the holiday season, you're still out of luck, Hunter said.

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Gander Outdoors, Pier 1, Forever 21 headed to bankruptcy? Use gift cards now - Star Tribune