Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Monday, August 4. In today's briefing, Florida’s Brightline high-speed rail, owned by Fortress Investment Group, is negotiating with municipal bondholders to extend an August 13 deadline to repay the debt, sources told The Wall Street Journal. A federal appeals court upheld the bankruptcy of Georgia-Pacific’s Bestwall unit, ruling 2-1 that even solvent companies can use chapter 11.

Florida’s Brightline high-speed rail line, owned by Fortress Investment Group, is in talks with a group of municipal bondholders to extend a bond repayment deadline, as the owner seeks fresh capital to pay down debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

A group of municipal bondholders has hired law firm HSF Kramer, formerly Kramer Levin, to represent it in talks over an Aug. 13 deadline the project faces to redeem $985 million in so-called commuter bonds. These tax-exempt municipal bonds are linked to financing for commuter lines connected to the main train line, the people said.

A spokesperson for Brightline declined to comment.

A federal appeals court kept Georgia-Pacific’s Bestwall asbestos unit in bankruptcy, once again ruling against asbestos-injury claimants who want the chapter 11 case dismissed because of the parent company’s solvency.

On a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., said Friday that federal courts have jurisdiction to oversee chapter 11 cases filed by businesses that aren’t in financial distress.

Pulp and paper manufacturer Georgia-Pacific placed Bestwall in chapter 11 in 2017 to carry tens of thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits against the company into bankruptcy court for resolution. An official committee of asbestos claimants had argued that bankruptcy is available only to those who can’t pay their debts.

• Earlier: A legal tactic called the Texas Two-Step for businesses to manage mass lawsuits continues to work its way through the courts despite some recent setbacks and criticism from lawmakers.

Life insurer Prudential Financial’s PGIM investment management arm has raised $4.2 billion for its latest middle-market direct-lending fund, underscoring a trend of investor capital flowing to this core segment of the private-credit market.

The PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities II fund is the second commingled private-credit pool that the asset manager has made available to investors to support its midmarket direct-lending strategy. The firm held a first close for the fund in 2023.

Australia's BlueScope Steel said Monday it has teamed up with a group of Asian steelmakers to submit a nonbinding expression of interest for the Whyalla Steelworks, which entered bankruptcy earlier this year.

Melbourne-based BlueScope said has entered into a collaboration agreement with Nippon Steel, JSW Steel and Posco to participate in the sale process for the steelworks in South Australia state. The indicative expression of interest outlines possible options for the Whyalla assets, the company said.

"BlueScope will leverage its detailed knowledge of the Australian steel industry and Whyalla assets as the consortium assesses potential options, opportunity and capital requirements," it said.

BlueScope said the consortium views Whyalla as a prospective location for lower-emissions iron manufacturing, which could play a key role in reducing global steel-industry pollution.

There is no obligation under the agreement for any of the consortium members to make an offer to acquire the steelworks, BlueScope said.

The steelworks, which had been run by British metals magnate Sanjeev Gupta, was placed into administration by South Australia's state government in February because of unpaid bills.

—Rhiannon Hoyle

The July jobs report could give Federal Reserve officials a sense of déjà vu.

Last year, officials decided against cutting interest rates at their July policy meeting, but an employment report two days later suggested the labor market wasn’t as strong as it looked. Officials made up for it by cutting rates by a half-percentage point, larger than the traditional quarter point increment, at their subsequent meeting in September.

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