Bankruptcy Trends

Federal bankruptcy watchdogs are once again patrolling in full force, restarting the consumer debtor audits that a tight budget forced them to suspend last year.

Creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the estate of the bankrupt firm following a settlement with Freddie Mac. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article via The Wall Street Journal.

While the number of corporate bankruptcies dwindled again in 2013, a deart

U.S. companies will continue defaulting near their current low rates barring a major crisis overseas, a bankruptcy expert said in his 13th annual address to restructuring professionals on Monday.

In his annual speech put on by the New York chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, New York University professor Edward I. Altman said he expects only a 2.03% default rate for U.S. corporate bonds in 2014, but an implosion in another country could change that number dramatically.

A Fortress Investment Group LLC affiliate won the bidding at Tuesday’s auction of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., which was involved in a deadly crash this past summer. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review article via The Wall Street Journal.