Good day and welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Tuesday, July 7. In today's briefing, creditors to EchoStar-owned Hughes Network Systems have hired Jones Day ahead of a $1.5 billion debt maturity on Aug. 1, according to people familiar with the matter. And a Houston bankruptcy judge approved Brookfield Asset Management's $150 million bankruptcy loan and stalking horse bid for GoldenPeaks Poland, rejecting creditors' claims that the insider investor had an unfair advantage.

Creditors to Hughes Network Systems, owned by Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar, have tapped restructuring counsel for advice ahead of a debt maturity, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hughes Network noteholders are huddling with restructuring lawyers from Jones Day as the consumer satellite internet company faces a $1.5 billion maturity on Aug. 1, the people said.

Part of Ergen’s EchoStar broadcast empire, Hughes Network is running low on liquidity to repay its debt due next month. As of March 31, Hughes Network had $102 million in cash on hand, according to its most recent earnings report in May.

A Houston bankruptcy judge approved Brookfield Asset Management’s bankruptcy loan to GoldenPeaks Poland and named it the stalking horse bidder, rejecting creditor arguments that the processes unfairly favored the “insider” investor.

After three days of testimony, Judge Alfredo Perez with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston greenlighted a loan of about $150 million for the bankrupt European solar energy company, saying GoldenPeaks and its independent directors acted appropriately in marketing the loan.

Judge Perez also approved a fast-tracked sale process with Brookfield serving as the initial bidder to set the minimum price, saying Brookfield’s interest in the company as both an equity and debt holder wasn’t misrepresented.

Minerals Technologies, parent of defunct talc supplier Barretts Minerals, has committed to pay $450 million toward a bankruptcy trust to satisfy talc-related asbestos injury claims—but the proposal depends on how a higher court rules on whether the talc contained asbestos.

Following Barretts’ unsuccessful attempts at mediation since May, Minerals Technologies last week filed a reorganization plan in Barretts’ chapter 11 case with a proposed settlement to resolve hundreds of injury claims against itself and Barretts. In bankruptcy since 2023, Barretts sold its Montana-based talc business the following year and no longer has any going business.

Arctos Partners has closed its first fund since being bought by KKR earlier this year, raising $6.2 billion to help private-markets managers reach their next stage of growth.

The vehicle, Arctos Keystone Partners Fund I, is the largest debut fund in the so-called general-partner or GP-solutions category, which refers to funds that provide financing to private-markets managers, KKR said Tuesday.

The sum exceeded the firm’s initial target of $4 billion. Limited partner investors in the pool include pension funds, endowments, insurers and other institutions, Arctos said.

Turbulence in Europe’s airline industry has caught the eye of one U.S. investor.

Shares of London-listed EasyJet soared nearly 10% on Monday after the budget carrier said it had agreed in principle to a more than $7 billion takeover by Castlelake, an American private equity and aircraft leasing group.

The move comes as airline stocks across the globe have tumbled in the wake of the Iran war and the subsequent surge in jet fuel prices. Higher airfares and concerns about potential fuel shortages have also made would-be travelers more wary about making bookings.

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