Hoop Holdings, a unit of Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. and the operator of Disney Store North America, said late yesterday that it filed for chapter 11 protection, MarketWatch.com reported yesterday. Children’s Place, the Secaucus, N.J., retailer of apparel and accessories for kids, said it isn’t part of the chapter 11 petition, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Children’s Place said that it was in advanced negotiations to sell a substantial part of the Disney Store business to Walt Disney Co. Hoop designs, contracts to produce, and sells merchandise under the Disney Store brand name via a license from Walt Disney. To facilitate its chapter 11 efforts and ultimately wind down its business, Hoop said it has received $35 million of debtor-in-possession financing from Wells Fargo.
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Aegis Mortgage Corp. asked the court overseeing its bankruptcy proceedings to dismiss two of its subsidiary debtors from chapter 11, following the Sept. 28 closing of the sale of Aegis’ loan platform assets to Ranieri & Co. Inc., Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday.Aegis Loan Servicing LP and AMC Insurance Agency of Texas Inc. are holding companies, one for mortgages and one for licenses, and should now be dismissed from bankruptcy because Ranieri purchased the equity in the two companies. The only known potential creditor of Aegis Loan Servicing is Residential Funding Co. LLC, although there are certain potential de minimus tax claims and regulatory fee claims, and the only known potential creditor of AMC Insurance is Madeleine LLC, along with potential de minimus tax claims, Aegis said, adding that both Madeleine and Residential Funding had been notified of the pending motion.

Bankrupt lender Aegis Mortgage Corp. wants to halt a pending employment lawsuit filed against the company and its hedge fund owner by Aegis’ founder and former chief executive, claiming the suit could hurt its chapter 11 case, Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. In an adversary case complaint filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Aegis asked for an injunction against D. Richard Thompson, who filed suit in Texas state court in May. In the alternative, the bankrupt lender has asked that the automatic stay be extended to “affiliated defendants” named in Thompson’s suit. The case has already been stayed as it applies to Aegis, but Thompson also named hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP and its parent company Madeleine LLC as defendants, along with several officers and managers of Cerberus and Aegis. Cerberus is a unit of Madeleine, Aegis’ largest equityholder.

Positive Software Solutions Inc. denied claims that a fraud lawsuit aimed at former executives and attorneys for New Century Holdings Inc. was a thinly veiled attempt to violate the automatic stay shielding the bankrupt lender, Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. Already reeling from court-imposed sanctions for what were deemed earlier breaches of the stay, the software company has come out in defense of calls for a second round of sanctions, arguing the suit has nothing to do with the battered lender. New Century had successfully argued early last month that Positive Software’s moves to pursue fraud claims directly against it constituted a violation worthy of sanctions. On Aug. 24, the collapsed mortgage lender took issue again, claiming that a suit against everyone but the lender constituted further violations by sleight of hand. In its objection, filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Positive Software argued that the automatic litigation ban protecting companies in chapter 11 proceedings did not automatically extend to nondebtors linked to the lender.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. received approval yesterday to emerge from bankruptcy protection with new ownership and the name that the iconic western Pennsylvania brewery started with nearly 150 years ago: Iron City Brewing Co., the Associated Press reported. Bankruptcy Judge M. Bruce McCullough approved the bankruptcy plan yesterday after months of negotiations between the company and its creditors. The company had originally sought bankruptcy protection in 2005 after the city Water and Sewer Authority threatened to cut off its water supply because of $2.5 million in unpaid bills. The company, founded in 1861, disputed the charges but agreed in April to settle its debt with the authority by paying at least $575,000.