Bankruptcy Trends

Hostess Brands Inc. is defending its bid to shed its pension plans and cut back on benefits for its unionized employees, saying it’s the only way for the company to survive its current trip through bankruptcy. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

A municipal bond insurer that guaranteed sewer debt issued by Jefferson County, Ala., is accusing J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. of unfairly using the county’s bankruptcy case to block the progress of the bond insurer’s own fight against the bank in New York state court. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

Saab Cars North America said it will file for Chapter 11 protection in Michigan, a move that comes a little more than a week after some of its dealerships sought to push the Swedish auto maker’s U.S. unit into bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

A judge Thursday cleared Hostess Brands Inc. to borrow the entirety of its $75 million bankruptcy loan, siding with the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread over protests from unsecured creditors who warned the financing deal would drive the company toward “extinction.” Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is asking a bankruptcy judge to slash at least $35 billion from what some of Wall Street’s biggest banks claim they are still owed from the investment bank over losses tied to residential mortgage loans that Lehman packaged and sold to investors at the height of the housing bubble. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.