Texas power company Energy Future Holdings Corp. will start hearings in February to confirm its chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan and its proposed sale of its power-line business to NextEra Energy Inc. for $18.6 billion, a judge said yesterday. Those hearings had been scheduled to begin yesterday, but were postponed after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled last month that the company owed holders of its first-lien and second-lien notes about $800 million more than anticipated. The company's plan is based on a sale of its main asset, its stake in the Texas-based Oncor power distribution business, to NextEra Energy of Juno Beach, Fla. Energy Future yesterday filed a modified plan of reorganization that essentially shifted the cost of last month's appeals court ruling to holders of junior unsecured notes by reducing their payout by roughly $800 million. Those junior creditors argued to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi that NextEra should be on the hook for making the unanticipated payment to the first-lien and second-lien noteholders. If the Florida power company did not want to pay, then it should drop its merger plan, their lawyer argued.
