The Third Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to secured creditors in its recent decision holding that a debtor may prohibit a lender from credit bidding on its collateral in connection with a sale of assets under a plan of reorganization. In the case of In re Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC, No. 09-4266 (3d Cir. Mar. 22, 2010), the court, in a 2-1 decision, determined that a plan that provides secured lenders with the “indubitable equivalent” of their secured interest in an asset is not required to permit credit bidding when that asset is sold.

What should be the remedy when a bankruptcy court holds that a security interest is avoidable as a preferential transfer, but the value of the security interest is not readily ascertainable? The Ninth Circuit recently addressed this issue in USAA Federal Savings Bank v. Thacker (In re: Taylors), 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 5793 (9th Cir. 2010). The Court held that, since the value of the security interest was not readily ascertainable, the only available remedy is for the bankruptcy court to return the security interest itself, not its value, to the bankruptcy estate.

Yesterday, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico closed Eurobank, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the FDIC was appointed receiver.

Yesterday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed BC National Banks, headquartered in Butler, Missouri, and appointed the FDIC receiver.

Yesterday, the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Regulation of the Missouri Division of Finance closed Champion Bank, headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and appointed the FDIC receiver.

The recent financial collapse has provided a strategic opportunity for healthy financial institutions, and non-traditional investors, to capitalize on the misfortune of failing banks. The FDIC is accelerating this process by revamping its loss share program. This program gives prospective buyers of failing institutions billions of dollars in government guarantees for risking the purchase of a failing bank, inclusive of all “toxic” assets.

Yesterday, the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation closed CF Bancorp, headquartered in Port Huron, Michigan, and the FDIC was appointed receiver. As receiver, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Michigan Bank, headquartered in Troy, Michigan, to assume all of the deposits of CF Bancorp.

KEY POINTS

• A US Bankruptcy Court decision held that loans to a homebuilding company that subsequently filed for bankruptcy constituted a fraudulent transfer.

In today’s difficult economic environment, it is vital for trade vendors faced with customers’ bankruptcies to have optimal strategies for collecting invoices for past shipments and protecting prior payments from being clawed back by a bankruptcy estate as preferences. The need for such strategies will only increase as record amounts of corporate debt mature. Nelson D. Schwartz, Corporate Debt Coming Due May Squeeze Credit, N.Y.

federal court in New York has dismissed as moot an appeal filed by plaintiffs with products liability claims pending against General Motors Corp. (GM) before it was sold in bankruptcy. In re: Motors Liquidation Co., No. 09 Civ. 6818 (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y., decided April 13, 2010). The plaintiffs sought to overturn a bankruptcy court’s approval of the automaker’s sale “free and clear” of their existing products liability claims as well as any successor liability claims they may have against the “new” GM.