Notable (Sears Canada, Joyus, Community Health Systems & More)

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Busted Tech. Joyus, an online shopping platform that relied heavily on video, shuttered this past week announcing in a leaked memo that it would undertake an assignment for the benefit of creditors. The company had no venture debt but did raise nearly $70mm from Accel Partners, a Time Warner venture arm and investors affiliated with a Walmart ($WMT) venture affiliate.

Healthcare. Community Health Systems ($CYH) announced its preliminary Q2 financial and operating results and they weren't very pretty. Net operating revenues were down nearly $400mm relative to the same quarter last year. Categorical losses, however, were generally lesser than the year before. The stock - and that of spun-off Quorum Health Corporation ($QHC) took a dive after the report. Meanwhile, smaller ($1-10mm) healthcare providers continue to file for bankruptcy.

Noble Group. With $3b of debt and various other issues, lots of folks are souring on the name.

Och-Ziff. We've heard of camp counselor bonuses from satisfied parents but this $280mm package takes things to a whole new level. Also, long luck. 

Pure Unsupported Fantasy. Otherwise known as Sycamore Partners' claim that Dollar Tree Stores submarined the Family Dollar merger. So Dollar Tree says, anyway.

Sears Canada. And we thought we were aggressive with some of our commentary:nice headline. Meanwhile, it appears that Eddie Lampert and Bruce Berkowitz couldn't figure out a way to get along in the sandbox, calling off their joint effort to bail out the embattled Canadian retailer. Now ESL Partners LP may sell some of its stake to take a tax loss. Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital Management LLC increased its holdings not too long ago.

Shopping Holidays. Get ready because it is undoubtedly coming. Fresh on the heels of Amazon Prime Day, other retailers are getting jiggy with it (looking at you Walmart and JD.com) and intend to start their own shopping holidays. Looks like the big retailers want to make Labor Day even more pointless.

Notable (Abercrombie, Halcon, Sears Canada & More)

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Abercrombie & Fitch ($ANF) see-sawed its own stock after proclaiming that it would seek a buyer (stock went up) but then, a mere few weeks later, indicating that it had terminated the sell-side process. The shares plummeted 21%.

Halcon Resources Corp ($HK) plans, per Reuters, to sell its North Dakota operations for $1.4b in cash as part of a broader (and smart) plan to shift its focus to the lower cost-basis Texas' Permian Basin. The stock popped on the news. The piece makes it sound like this is the CEO's grand vision - as if he's not getting a tremendous amount of pressure from his new(ish) credit-oriented short-term-oriented overlords. 

Hedge Funds. Apparently the business isn't as bad as previously thought. That is, unless these investments in Puerto Rico bonds crater.

India (Geographical arbitrage). Hey you. Yeah, you, Associate sitting in New York with a 15 year path to partnership. You may want to consider moving to India and becoming an expert in the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code there. Apparently nobody there has a clue what the hell is going on. You may be able to fast-track your career. We want credit if you pull the trigger.

Professional Athletes (Short Personal Finance Wherewithal). Livan Hernandez, who made $53mm over the course of his baseball career, has filed for bankruptcy. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these guys? 

Sears Canada. C'mon. Eddie Lampert, the King of Bad-Money-After-Good (aka all things Sears ($SHLD)), is reportedly considering a deal for Sears Canada. Officially, the company has hired a joint venture between Gordon Brothers Canada ULC and Merchant Retail Solutions ULC for the liquidation of inventory/FF&E of 45 locations and is actively pursuing a transaction: over 20 parties have signed NDAs.

Tea (Short Retailing it). Small potatoes relative to the universe we typically cover but given that Capital Teas Inc. was once a 22-store retailer of, well, tea, and is now bankrupt, we figured we'd note it. We particularly love how the company didn't even bother to update its "bio," of sorts, noting that it was honored as a member of The Inc. 5000, "the nation's fastest growing private companies." Well, not anymore, obvi. The company plans to shutter 10 locations as part of the bankruptcy. If that is considered "fastest growing," the US is even more effed than we thought.

True Value. This is not a distressed candidate - not with $1.51b of revenue in '16 - but the fact that the private company is reportedly looking to market itself is telling in this age of Amazon. The home improvement space is largely thought to be impervious to the "Amazon Effect." At least, that is the narrative behind investing inHome Depot ($HD) and Lowe's Companies Inc. ($LOW). Perhaps people are worried about the narrative? Perhaps they're just looking to take advantage of a potential strategic acquirer tapping capital markets? Interesting.

WeWork. We admit: we're obsessed with this company. On the heals of closing its $760mm Series G round valuing the company at $20b, this startup now officially has a larger valuation than publicly-traded office REITS like Vornado Realty (which we covered here) and Boston Properties. Makes. Total. Sense. Jokes aside, it has inserted itself as a platform for companies like GM, IBM, Spotify and Salesforce, effectively being the office manager of choice. Interesting model. Can't imagine this remaining in a downturn when companies need to look for ways to cut costs. 

Notable (3D Printing, Elliott Management, Sycamore Capital Partners, etc.)

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3D Printing. We've previously noted the potential game changing effect of advancements in 3D printing technology. This view - from the bloggers at UPS - is a little more tempered but interesting nonetheless.

Brookfield Asset Management. Interesting.

Energy M&A. Reportedly, Vistra Energy Corp. is making moves to take over Dynegy Inc.

Gearing for Battle. Elliott Management is hiring to prepare for a restructuring wave (firewall).

Short Coke & Pepsi (read: Bottled Water). On one hand, the volume of plastic water bottles is absurd and harmful to the environment...we get that. On the other hand, however, do we really need a BtoB subscription service for...wait for it...NYC tap water?!? We're split as to whether this is "notable" for its earnest save-the-environment vibe or for its "is this really a frikken problem in need of solving" vibe. We're leaning towards the latter.

Smoking-More-Crack.live. A nice little ranty blogpost from a petulant Eddie Lampert.

Sun Capital Partners & Sycamore Partners. The firm is looking to sell British bedding retailer Dreams - which it acquired out of administration back in 2013 - with Chinese companies in the mix to bid. Rothschild is the investment banker. Meanwhile, to avoid seeing another portfolio company in bankruptcy court, the firm has agreed to, in the event of a rights offering, recapitalize Vince Holding Corp. ($VNCE) with $30mm. Meanwhile, this was an interesting piece on Sycamore Partners and its potentially evolving strategy (though it neglected to acknowledge how dire Nine West is beginning to look).

Trickle Down Economics. Bullsh*t.