Bankruptcy

The Detroit City Council Friday approved a new regional water authority to take over the bulk of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department and also gave the green light to the city's bankruptcy settlement with bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc.

A nonprofit legal coalition is suing Texas Attorney General candidate Ken Paxton, claiming he violated state securities law by failing to register as an investment adviser.

Any sale of the art in the Detroit Institute of Arts would make the DIA "persona non grata in the museum world," a museum official and an art finance consultant testified at a trial on the city's bankruptcy exit plan.

Indiana officials are watching closely as the private firm that operates the Indiana Toll Road under a historic $3.8 billion 75-year agreement reportedly teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and considers a sale of the lease.

The Michigan Strategic Fund approved the issuance of $450 million of 30-year bonds to finance a new hockey stadium near downtown Detroit, a transaction that will feature a mix of tax-exempt and taxable debt, a mandatory tender and interest-rate swaps.

The trustee for $6 million of unrated bonds issued for Iowa Wesleyan College will ask a judge to allow it to enter a forbearance agreement with the school ahead of an expected technical default on debt service coverage ratios.

The two counterparty banks on Detroit's interest-rate swaps no longer need to drop their claims against Syncora Guarantee Inc. after Syncora agreed to modify its settlement with the city.

A federal appeals court recently agreed with a lower court that former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux does not have immunity from Securities and Exchange Commission charges, a decision some experts think could have implications for the SEC's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative or other enforcement actions going forward.

An attorney representing defendants in a Victorville, Calif. bond fraud lawsuit pleaded guilty in a separate case to charges of money laundering and witness tampering.

A former Wayne County chief financial officer is one of three county officials indicted Monday as part of an investigation into a $300 million bond-funded jail in downtown Detroit.

A court ruling striking down a vote by hoteliers approving a bed tax for a planned San Diego convention center expansion demonstrates the power of Proposition 13, Fitch Ratings said in a report.

Two ex-JPMorgan bankers shouldn't be allowed to give statements six years after taking the Fifth Amendment in the Jefferson County, Ala., sewer bond and swap case, the SEC says.

Detroit and Syncora Guarantee Inc. said Monday they've reached a final settlement that is expected to accelerate the city's exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. asked the federal court to delay the Detroit bankruptcy trial for at least a week to give it time to prepare new legal strategy in light of the city's proposed settlement with Syncora Guarantee Inc.

The judge in the San Bernardino bankruptcy case tentatively ruled Thursday that the city could reject its current collective bargaining agreement with the firefighter's union.

Flint, in many ways a mini-Detroit, is likely to avoid bankruptcy amid improving financial conditions unless it loses a court battle over its effort to cut retiree health care costs, Moody's Investors Service says in a new report.

Syncora Guarantee Inc. is pushing back against widely reported claims that it is receiving 26 cents on the dollar in its tentative settlement with Detroit, saying the actual recovery is “much lower than reported.”

Detroit's chief bankruptcy mediator ordered FGIC, the last holdout creditor, into talks with the city and Syncora Guarantee Inc. and other major creditors on Friday to try to resolve a dispute over $1.5 billion of certificates of participation.

Detroit and Syncora Guarantee Inc. will spend the next few days working to finalize a major agreement that would speed up the bankruptcy, but important questions remain in the case, muni market experts said.

Detroit's historic bankruptcy case saw a major breakthrough late Tuesday when the city and its strongest opponent, bond insurer Syncora Guarantee, announced they had reached an agreement in principal.