The Thomson Reuters Investment Banking scorecard lands again. Here are the highlights:

BAAT Offers Largest Auto Loan Securitization of 2009

A US asset-backed offering fell among the top global debt deals of the week, as Bank of America Auto Trust (BAAT) offered a $3.9 billion TALF-eligible auto loan securitization, the largest such ABS offering this year.  In total, auto loan backed issues have accounted for 35.7% of US ABS, the largest share of the approximately $80 billion so far in 2009.

As a whole, securitizations are down 30% in the US and 39% globally over 2008 levels.  This week marks the third largest week for ABS activity in the US during 2009 with $9.7 billion of issuance.

Bankruptcy-related M&A at Five Year High

Five bankruptcy-related M&A deals were announced this week, including the acquisition of venture-backed public company Nanogen by French investment holding company Financiere Elitech for $25.7 million.  Year-to-date, 173 bankruptcy-related deals have been announced, the highest level since the same period of 2004 when there were 202.

In 2009 the most bankruptcy-related M&A deals have occurred in the Industrials sector with 23.1%, followed by the media and entertainment sector with 16.2%.  By nation, US targets represent 83 deals or 48.0% of bankruptcy M&A.

Singapore Company Follow-On Activity at Record High

Among the largest equity deals of the week was a $984.6 million follow-on offering by Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines.  Year-to-date, Singapore follow-on volume totals $7.8 billion from 20 issues, nearly 11 times higher than the same period in 2008 when volume was $707.3 million and the highest year-to-date volume ever.  Total equity and equity related volume in Singapore is also at all-time record levels in 2009, reaching $8.1 billion.

Equity and equity related volume in Asia Pacific stands at $75.6 billion so far this year, a 6% decrease from last year.

A U.S. federal judge has authrorized the sale of General Motors’ most profitable assets to a “new GM,” backed by the government, in a move seen as crucial for the automaker to exit bankruptcy protection.

The decision by Judge Robert Gerber of the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan came after three days of hearings to address the 850 objections to the restructuring plan. In his 95-page opinion, Judge Gerber wrote that the sale would “prevent the death of the patient on the operating table.”

Under the terms of the revised deal, G.M. would sell its best assets, including the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands, to a new company owned largely by the American and Canadian governments and a health care trust for the United Automobile Workers union.

That still leaves the question of the “old GM,” which includes Opel, Vauxhall and Hummer. Just as people thought that GM’s plan to sell Opel and Vauxhall to Canadian auto supplier Magna International was a done deal, China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding made a concrete offer to buy both brands for $924 million. That leaves the future of Opel uncertain for now.

Also not a done deal: GM’s plan to sell Hummer to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong. The potential buyer is in talks with Chinese regulators to win approval for its acqusition, but there are no guarantees it will get the green light.

General Motors is back in bankruptcy court on Wednesday, seeking approval to sell its choice assets to a “New GM” in a plan to reinvigorate the automaker under U.S. government ownership.

Reuters reporters Emily Chasan and Phil Wahba will be filing updates from the hearing in the live headline box below and on the DealZone Twitter feed.

Lear is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as next week, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The auto parts supplier’s lenders have agreed to waive defaults under its primary credit facility through June 30. The ventilator may still be working, but the decision on whether to pull the plug will soon be at hand.

Last week, the White House rejected a request from the auto parts industry for up to $10 billion in additional emergency funding. Yesterday, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson made the case that a speedy exit from bankruptcy for the automaker was the way to avoid a “fatal” blow to suppliers.

Henderson said tentative plans to resume operations at some GM plants by July 13 could be endangered if the court does not approve the sale of the its best assets to a reorganized company funded by Uncle Sam.

Bankruptcy court is a busy place. Lear could be arriving just as the court hears arguments on GM’s asset sale, scheduled for next Tuesday, June 30. On the face of it, there isn’t a whole lot to discuss. There are no other bids out there to rival the government’s $60 billion financing for GM, though some of the automaker’s smaller unions have filed objections to the sale.

So far this year, at least 15 auto parts suppliers have filed for bankruptcy or had their assets seized by creditors, according to the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association. The casualty list includes Visteon, Metaldyne Corp and Noble International Ltd.

GM cleared several of the hurdles on its way out of bankruptcy Thursday at a court hearing in Manhattan. The federal bankruptcy judge gave GM the final ok to tap the rest of its $33.3 billion bankruptcy financing and a lawyer for asbestos claimants withdrew a request for official committee status. Other obstacles including the status of non-union retirees rights to healthcare benefit– are on the agenda for the afternoon. We’ll be filing updates from the hearing in the live headline box below and on our Twitter feed.

The Chrysler bankruptcy hearing has swamped a Manhattan court with an unprecedented number of pleadings, according to docket tracking service NetDockets.com.

In the first 45 days of Chrysler’s bankruptcy, attorneys filed more than four times the number of pleadings than over the same period for collapsed corporate giants WorldCom or Enron.

More than 4,200 pleadings were filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, said NetDockets. That’s more than the 967 pleadings related to Enron in the first six weeks, or even Lehman Brothers Holdings’ 1,362 pleadings.

In the first 16 days after General Motors for bankruptcy, almost 1,800 pleadings were filed.

What does this mean for courts, for attorneys? Does it spur court investment in court clerks or electronic technology? Is it a gold mine for lawyers? A headache for the judge?

Already, a judicial body is urging Congress to authorize new bankruptcy judgeships to cope with a surge in bankruptcy filings that has tracked weakness in the U.S. economy.

James Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research-in-Motion, can’t seem to catch a break. Having failed in previous efforts to buy NHL teams in Pittsburgh and Nashville and move them to Hamilton, Ontario, he’s now been shut out in his bid to buy the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes. Arizona bankruptcy Judge Redfield Baum ruled late on Monday that a June 29 deadline set by Balsillie did not allow enough time to settle the complex case. It’s a shame things were so rushed. The decision could yet be a game changer for struggling sports franchises.

Balsillie (pictured above enjoying the game from the ice) and the owner of the Coyotes, trucking magnate Jerry Moyes, offered to put together a $212.5 million deal in May, when the franchise filed for bankruptcy protection, to move the team to Hamilton, about 200 miles northwest of Buffalo, N.Y. But NHL says the franchise is contractually obligated to stay in Phoenix.

Being a judge, Baum took the liberty to say both sides are wrong. He rejected Moyes’ attorneys’ argument that antitrust law allowed the sale and relocation of the Coyotes without NHL approval, and he dismissed concerns of other sports leagues that allowing the Coyotes to relocate would encourage other financially struggling teams to use bankruptcy court to get around league rules.

The Coyotes have never made a profit since moving to Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996 and lost $73 million from 2005 to 2008, according to court documents. If bankruptcy, with its power to renegotiate contracts, is not a good enough reason to find a better market for your product, what is?

Balsillie is keeping his game face on, saying there is still time for a deal to be worked out. He probably doesn’t need the deadlines. While the fortunes of the BlackBerry market may ebb and flow, its unlikely fans in Hamilton will lose their taste for a game that has proven so popular in Florida, North Carolina and Southern California, if not the desert.

Rob “Big Loan” Verrone was the banker with the big name behind the 2007 acquisition of now-bankrupt Extended Stay.

His nickname was trumpeted in the hotel chain’s 2007 press release detailing the deal — in retrospect perhaps not the best quality to shout about.

Big Loan, described as one of three who provided the mortgage and mezzanine financing, moved on from Wachovia according to a Wall Street Journal report last year, and we couldn’t immediately track him down for comment.

Extended Stay filed for bankruptcy today after being saddled with too much debt during the economic crisis.

The one party which did come out looking good was Blackstone, which sold out of the deal two years before it cratered.

After enjoying a bit of confusion from savior Fiat about the imperative of a June 15 deadline, and a quick, 24-hour trip to the Supreme Court, Chrysler creditors now know in no uncertain terms just how much political will there is behind getting the automaker’s government-orchestrated deal done.

The top U.S. court can certainly be counted on to ponderously deliberate matters of vital importance to the nation. But when the consequences of delay are dire (thousands of auto workers’ jobs, a U.S. presidency, etc.), a decision to not make a decision can come with lightning speed.

In a brief two-page order, the justices said opponents of the Fiat-Chrysler deal had not met the burden of showing the Supreme Court needed to intervene. The court’s action was not a decision on the merits of the challenge, they said. The Chrysler dispute marked the first time the Supreme Court had been confronted by legal issues involving the federal government’s power to deal with the economic crisis.

More importantly, it showed that the mechanics working on the reconstruction of the auto industry may have one less headache to worry about as they hammer out problems at General Motors, which is using a similar quick-sale strategy in its bankruptcy in New York.

Reuters will be sending live updates from the Chrysler bankruptcy hearing, on the automaker’s plan to reject 789 dealership franchises, expected soon after 0830 ET. Read the updates below or follow us on Twitter.