Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Tuesday, February 3. In today's briefing, label maker Multi-Color won court approval to access an initial $125 million of DIP financing, despite objections from some lenders who argued the loan unfairly subordinates their claims. And Saks Fifth Avenue’s parent plans to end its partnership with Amazon to focus on driving traffic to its own website.

Label maker Multi-Color has secured initial access to a bankruptcy loan despite objections from opposing lenders who said it unfairly subordinates their claims.

On Monday, Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey authorized Multi-Color to access an initial $125 million of the debtor-in-possession loan that is supported by the majority of its senior lenders and its private-equity owner, Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The company will seek approval for the remaining $125 million at a later date.

The original DIP financing proposal also included a $250 million roll-up of existing debt. The judge cut that in half to $125 million, saying he was cognizant that the roll-up could result in certain lender claims being “uplifted” and getting repaid before others.

The parent of Saks Fifth Avenue plans to wind down its partnership with Amazon.com to focus on shoring up its own businesses after filing for bankruptcy protection last month.

Saks Fifth Avenue and Amazon joined forces in December 2024 as part of the luxury retailer’s acquisition of rivals Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Saks needed money for the deal, and Amazon—which had long tried to crack the code of selling luxury goods online—invested $475 million in the parent company, Saks Global. The investment was conditional on Saks selling merchandise on Amazon’s website, according to a court filing.

But the partnership never really took off.

YesCare reached an agreement with compensation trusts that allows the prison healthcare company to remain shielded from personal injury lawsuits.

YesCare has wired $2.1 million to cover a portion of the overdue payments as part of a $75 million settlement that resolved the bankruptcy of its former affiliate, Tehum Care Service. The remaining past-due balance will be consolidated into a monthly installment plan and paid alongside the originally scheduled 30-month payments.

The agreement follows a notice of default filed by trust lawyers last week, which threatened to terminate the company's legal shield.

Judge Christopher Lopez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston told the YesCare parties that there will be no further forbearance moving forward. Should the settlement parties fail to make timely payments or correct a default within a five-day grace period, their legal shield will be terminated, he said.

—Akiko Matsuda

Mark Buschmann and Richard Shinder have launched Ensis Partners, a New York–based boutique firm focused on advising middle- and upper-middle-market companies in distress.

The firm enters the market as default rates are expected to rise and private credit has grown rapidly, increasing demand for restructuring advice among borrowers and sponsors with increasingly complex capital structures. Ensis focuses on liability management, special-situations financings, Chapter 11 cases, and cross-border restructurings.

Buschmann and Shinder bring more than 60 years of combined restructuring experience, including roles at Blackstone, PJT Partners, Piper Jaffray and Perella Weinberg, and work on high-profile cases such as Enron, Delta Air Lines and Endo Pharmaceuticals.

A Michigan pension fund wanted to grow the second-largest coffee farm in Hawaii. What happened there demonstrates the perils of investing public workers’ savings in private markets. The $16 billion Lansing-based retirement fund ended up abandoning the coffee farm last spring after nine years and $86 million in losses. A few months later, the pension said it had lost $53 million on another ambitious private market bet: an investment with a one-year-old Swiss firm in renewable energy technology.

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. 

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