By Sakthi Prasad

(Reuters) – Otelco Inc (OTT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, court documents showed, three months after the telecom services provider lost a major contract with Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

In February, Otelco reached an agreement with holders of its senior debt to amend and extend the terms of its senior financing to reduce its debt and improve its capital structure.

By Sakthi Prasad

(Reuters) – Otelco Inc (OTT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, court documents showed, three months after the telecom services provider lost a key revenue-generating contract from Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

In February, Otelco reached an agreement with its senior lenders to amend and extend the terms of its current senior financing to reduce the company’s debt and improve its capital structure.

By Sakthi Prasad

(Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has reached a $546 million settlement with the trustee liquidating the failed broker-dealer unit of MF Global Holdings (MFGLQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a court filing showed, an amount that will help repay the brokerage’s customers.

As part of a settlement reached with James Giddens, the trustee who is tasked with liquidating MF Global Inc, JPMorgan will pay $100 million that will be made available for distribution to former MF Global customers.

By Miyoung Kim and Sakthi Prasad

(Reuters) – South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co did not willfully infringe on some of Apple Inc’s patents, a U.S. federal court has ruled, foiling Apple’s attempt to ratchet up the $1.05 billion in damages it was awarded last August by a U.S. jury.

The ruling removes a dark cloud hanging over Samsung, which, if the decision had gone the other way, could have been forced to pay triple the original judgment, or more than $3 billion in the worst-case scenario for Samsung’s balance sheet, according to analysts and patent experts.

Jan 23 (Reuters) – CBS Corp has filed an amended
lawsuit against Dish Network Corp accusing the No. 2
U.S. satellite TV company of concealing material facts about its
ad-skipping technology during contract negotiations in 2011.

A legal battle erupted last year between Dish Network and
major U.S. broadcast networks over Dish’s Hopper DVR, which
threatens to bring down the television business model by
allowing viewers to skip over commercials entirely when they
watch recorded shows.

Jan 18 (Reuters) – Liberty Media Corp has taken
majority ownership of Sirius XM Radio Inc, a securities
filing showed, after months of trying to wrest control of the
satellite radio broadcaster.

John Malone’s Liberty Media bought another 50 million shares
of Sirius stock at an average price of $3.15 per share,
according to a company filing made with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday.

Jan 16 (Reuters) – A Hong Kong arbitration panel has ruled
that China MediaExpress Holdings Inc was a “fraudulent
enterprise” and awarded $77 million to Starr Investments, a firm
run by former AIG chief Maurice Greenberg, a U.S. court filing
shows.

Starr sued China MediaExpress in 2011, saying it had been
fraudulently induced to invest in the advertising firm, whose
shares were subsequently delisted from stock exchange in the
United States.

By Dhanya Skariachan and Sakthi Prasad

(Reuters) – Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said late on Monday Chief Executive Louis D’Ambrosio will step down for family health reasons after the U.S. retailer reported a 1.8 percent decline in quarter-to-date sales at stores open at least a year.

Edward Lampert will assume the role of Sears CEO in addition to his current role as chairman, Sears said in a statement late on Monday. Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments, had a 34.14 percent stake in Sears Holdings as of November 30, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Jan 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. securities regulator has decided
not to take action against David Sokol, once considered a
possible candidate for the top job at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire
Hathaway Inc, Sokol’s lawyer told Reuters.

In 2011, Buffett said Sokol violated the company’s insider
trading rules to score a $3 million windfall profit on shares of
U.S. chemicals maker Lubrizol, which rose by nearly a third
after Berkshire Hathaway announced it would buy the company.

Dec 20 (Reuters) – U.S. diversified manufacturer Crane Co
said it will buy MEI Conlux Holdings and its Japanese
affiliate for about $820 million from private equity firms Bain
Capital and Advantage Partners to widen its base in making
machines that can handle money through automated mechanisms.

Crane has invested over $220 million to grow its payment
solutions business in recent years and MEI Conlux is the
company’s third deal since 2006 in a business segment that
caters to a range of automated money handling solutions, aimed
at the gaming, retail, transportation and vending markets.