Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Thursday, January 29. In today's briefing, we go inside Kirkland's decision to step back from representing Optimum, First Brands Group nears a breaking point, and Office Properties Income Trust was denied approval of its DIP.

Kirkland’s about-face on Optimum shows credit market’s clout. Kirkland & Ellis’s withdrawal from a bruising corporate-credit battle signals the firm's choice of priorities for its leading debt finance and restructuring business after getting into a brouhaha with some of its prized Wall Street clients.

Kirkland withdrew from representing closely held telecom Optimum Communications this week after the company filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Wall Street asset managers that Kirkland also counts among its clientele. While Optimum used a different law firm to draft and file the antitrust complaint, investors that were named as defendants nonetheless associated it with Kirkland because of the firm’s role advising the company on creditor negotiations.

• Kirkland’s about-face points to the collective sway of Wall Street asset managers that pressured the world’s highest-earning law firm to retreat from representing a corporate client that initiated litigation against them.

Stifel taps Moelis vet for restructuring team. Adam Steinberg is set to leave his post as a managing director at Moelis Group to lead the restructuring unit at Stifel Financial later this year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy has learned. Steinberg has worked at Moelis for ten years, most recently as a managing director in its capital structure advisory group.

At Moelis, Steinberg advised medical-transport provider ModivCare on its chapter 11 restructuring and a group of senior secured noteholders in chip supplier Wolfspeed's bankruptcy, among other recent cases. He is joining Stifel later this year as head of capital structure advisory, where he is expected to lead an expansion of the firm’s restructuring practice. –Alicia McElhaney

Ford, GM step in to fund First Brands as lenders balk. First Brands secured an emergency cash infusion from some of its largest customers to keep it afloat after the bankrupt auto-parts supplier warned it has reached a “breaking point” this week.

Customers including Ford, General Motors and Harley Davidson have agreed to prepay First Brands, including the costs to cover the purchase of raw materials, labor, corporate expenses and general case costs, in exchange for products crucial for their vehicles, the company said in the filing. The group may continue financing First Brands on a week-to-week basis, court records show.

Office Properties Income Trust denied access to $125 million bankruptcy loan. A Houston bankruptcy judge blocked final approval of a $125 million bankruptcy loan for Office Properties Income Trust, ruling that it would restrict not only the real-estate investment trust’s business decisions, but his court’s handling of OPI’s chapter 11 case as well.

• Judge Christopher Lopez with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston declined to approve the loan proposal in its current form and instructed OPI to “huddle up” with creditors to come up with revisions.

Clearlake-backed bottle maker files for bankruptcy. Bottle manufacturer Pretium Packaging has filed for bankruptcy, striking a restructuring deal with lenders and owner Clearlake Capital Group.

The deal is expected to reduce Pretium's funded debt by more than $900 million and provide over $175 million of liquidity, the company said Wednesday.

As part of the process, Pretium aims to raise more funds, including over $530 million of new near-term debt commitments from existing lenders and a $50 million new equity investment from Clearlake, a private-equity firm based in Santa Monica.

The transaction is supported by around 90% of Pretium's secured lenders, including U.S. lender Wells Fargo, it said in a statement.

New York-based Pretium will continue to operate as normal and fulfill all vendor and supplier obligations as the recapitalization progresses, it said. —Megan Cheah

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