As the 11-month mark of its chapter 11 filing approaches, Energy Future Holdings’ (EFH) campaign to get out of bankruptcy court probably remains at least another a year away, the Dallas Morning News reported yesterday. The creation of Energy Future Holdings — through the $45 billion buyout of the former TXU Corp. in 2007 — brought together some of the biggest names on Wall Street on a bet that electricity prices would rise. Almost a year after executives sought financial protection in the courts, there is little if any public indication progress has been made on determining how to divide the company’s assets, spread across subsidiaries Luminant, TXU Energy and Oncor. Negotiations are continuing between EFH and the various creditor groups, say attorneys in the case, who declined to comment publicly due to the sensitivity of the proceedings. But that process has been held up as interest spirals around the sale of power transmission company Oncor, which counts 10 million customers in Texas. When EFH filed for bankruptcy last April the plan was that Oncor would be taken over by a group of creditors aligned with Hunt Consolidated, the Dallas energy and real estate conglomerate run by billionaire Ray L. Hunt. But then NextEra Energy, a Florida-based power company with considerable assets in Texas, raised its hand with a bid later valued at $18 billion, and EFH had to scrap its restructuring plan. Now U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi has approved an auction process scheduled to conclude in August. With companies including Houston utility Centerpoint Energy and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reportedly having explored bids, some are speculating the sale price could reach $20 billion.
