Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Wednesday, April 8. In today's briefing, Cornerstone Building Brands, backed by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, has hired AlixPartners to negotiate with a lender group holding about 90% of its debt on an out-of-court restructuring of its roughly $5 billion balance sheet, sources told WSJ Pro Bankruptcy.

Cornerstone Building Brands has hired turnaround consulting firm AlixPartners to negotiate with creditors to restructure its nearly $5 billion balance sheet, according to people familiar with the matter.

The North Carolina-based company, backed by private-equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice, is in discussions with a group of lenders to change the terms of its loans, push out debt maturities and raise new capital, the people said.

CD&R, which acquired Cornerstone for roughly $5.8 billion in 2022, is aiming to restructure its debt out of court, the people said.

Cornerstone has also brought on PJT Partners as its investment bank and Latham & Watkins as its legal counsel, the people said.

Auto battery and accessory maker NOCO has 48 hours to submit a competing offer for First Brands’ intellectual property, Houston Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez ruled Tuesday.

NOCO said this week that it recently explored acquiring First Brands’ wiper business, Trico, but decided against the deal over the purchase price. NOCO told First Brands adviser Lazard that it was interested in Trico’s IP, but was told it wasn’t for sale.

Days later, First Brands announced the sale of 12 brands, including Trico, to Premium Guard for $25 million. NOCO said it would have bid more in cash for Trico’s IP alone if it had the opportunity.

First Brands’ attorneys said at Tuesday’s hearing that one of its largest customers is threatening to take its business elsewhere if the sale doesn’t complete quickly. NOCO said it is well-capitalized and ready to move fast to make an all-cash offer.

Lopez is set to rule on the sale at a Friday hearing.

–Alicia McElhaney

GoPro Slashes Jobs in Cost-Cutting Move. GoPro plans to cut 23% of its workforce, as the company struggles to return to profitability.

The wearable camera maker said Tuesday its board approved a restructuring plan to reduce costs, which will entail cutting 145 employees. GoPro's head count at the end of the first quarter was 631 workers, it said.

The job cuts are slated to happen in the company's second quarter, and are expected to be complete by the end of this year.

GoPro said it expects a charge of $11.5 million to $15 million related to its restructuring plan, including severance payments and healthcare benefits.

Chief Executive and founder Nicholas Woodman told analysts in March that the company was facing several macroeconomic pressures, including tariff and memory costs, as well as supply constraints.

In early 2025, GoPro said it expected to return to profitability by the end of the fiscal year, but posted a loss of $9.1 million, or 6 cents a share, in its fourth quarter.

The San Mateo, Calif., company has been aiming to reduce operating expenses, as full-year revenue declined in 2025. In its most recently ended fourth quarter, the company said it had cut costs by 26% from the prior year.

To deal with waning growth, GoPro has broadened its hardware and software offerings. It is rolling out AI products, including an image processor. Last fall, Woodman completed a $2 million investment in the company to help fund new products.

GoPro had two rounds of job cuts in 2024, cutting 4% of its workforce in the first quarter of the year and 25% in the third quarter. It had 696 employees at the end of 2024.

• Related: An attempt by credit evaluator Egan-Jones Ratings to restore its asset-backed and government securities authorization ran into skepticism at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which recently questioned whether the company has the “financial and managerial resources to consistently produce credit ratings with integrity.”

The Treasury Department wants to talk to state insurance commissioners about the private loans piling up in insurers’ portfolios. Those state regulators have been keeping some of their thoughts to themselves.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the organization for regulators from every U.S. state, in 2024 published a bombshell study revealing that the ratings on insurers’ private-credit investments were routinely inflated. This past May, the group pulled the report from its website and said it needed to “clarify its findings.”

Blackstone Closes $10 Billion Private-Credit Fund

Blackstone closed a $10 billion opportunistic credit fund, hitting the fund's hard cap even as the private-credit industry struggles to stem an outflow of capital driven by investor worries.

The company said the fund, called Blackstone Capital Opportunities Fund V, was oversubscribed.

"COF V is Blackstone's largest opportunistic credit fund raised to date, reflecting continued strong institutional demand for private credit. Amidst a noisy backdrop for the industry, we believe this fundraise demonstrates the strength of Blackstone's capabilities in private credit," said Lou Salvatore, co-portfolio manager of the Capital Opportunities Funds.

The private-credit industry is in turmoil as investors, made anxious by a handful of high-profile defaults in the past year and the potential impact of AI on the software companies that funds lend to, pull their money out.

Last week, Blue Owl Capital said that investors in two of its biggest private-credit funds asked to pull out some $5.4 billion in the first quarter.

Share your tips, suggestions and feedback with the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy team: Alexander Gladstone; Jodi Xu Klein; Akiko Matsuda; Alicia McElhaney; Andrew Scurria; Becky Yerak. 

Follow us on X: @gladstonea; @jodixu; @AskAkiko; @AliciaMcElhaney; @AndrewScurria; @beckyyerak.