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A federal bankruptcy judge Thursday approved the sale of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis chancery for nearly $3.3 million, MPRNews.org reported today. Other than providing a company name, the archdiocese would not offer details about the winning bidder. State corporate records indicate the high bid came from a private firm managed by the chairman of a banking company based in Maplewood. The sale of the archdiocese headquarters and archbishop's residence on Summit Avenue brings total church property sales to more than $8 million. The judge also approved an archdiocese request to lease office space on St. Paul's east side in the one-time headquarters of 3M. It's unclear where the archbishop will reside. Archdiocese attorneys said that issue does not have to be resolved before the end of November. Attorneys said they expect to file a plan of reorganization before May 31. Until then only the archdiocese can file a plan. A plan is expected to include compensation for sex abuse victims and a financial roadmap for the continued operation of the archdiocese.

Bankrupt energy producer Quicksilver Resources Inc. has sold its U.S. assets to private equity firm BlueStone Natural Resources II, after the buyer struck a new contract for transporting Quicksilver's gas, Reuters reported yesterday. Midstream companies that gather and process natural gas have been watching the case over fears of a precedent-setting court ruling that would allow bankrupt producers to shed unwanted contracts with pipeline operators. Wednesday's agreement removes that threat, and clears the way for Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Bluestone to acquire Quicksilver's assets for $245 million. BlueStone, an affiliate of Natural Gas Partners, had said it would only close the deal if Quicksilver obtained a court order ending its "very above-market" gathering contract with midstream operator Crestwood Equity Partners. Read more. 

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A federal judge in Delaware is scheduled to hear arguments over how to split up some $7 billion Nortel raised from the sale of its patents and other assets, which has pitted U.S. bondholders against creditors of the Canadian parent company and U.K. pensioners who say they’re owed $3 billion to shore up their underfunded plans, Forbes.com reported today. The multinational bankruptcy proceedings will have amassed nearly $2 billion in legal fees to date. British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills appears to be the biggest winner, billing for some $400 million to advise Ernst & Young on the administration of Nortel’s European bankruptcy estate. Ernst & Young comes in second at around $335 million. The high fees reflect the vexing complexity of Nortel’s bankruptcy, which is taking place across three countries and two continents and features the increasingly common clash of bondholders against pensioners. In Nortel’s case the big unsecured creditor is the company’s U.K. pension plan, which administrators there claim is underfunded to the tune of $3 billion. Unfortunately for those pensioners, Nortel’s U.K. operations were dwarfed, in terms of revenue and earnings, by its U.S. business. According to one analysis the U.S. operation held 70 percent of Nortel’s patents — a key measure in a company whose assets are mostly intellectual property — and would get 73 percent of the bankruptcy assets on a pure revenue basis. The U.S. divisions also issued more than half of Nortel’s debt.

Molycorp Inc. won court approval to exit chapter 11 protection yesterday under a plan that leaves the fate of the sole U.S. source of rare earths uncertain, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi confirmed a plan that puts a trimmed-down Molycorp largely in the hands of senior lender Oaktree Capital Management. Unsecured creditors will share a minority stake in the company, which is being rebuilt around the Neo line of businesses that process rare earths. As for the Mountain Pass mine in California, which is the only U.S. mine producing elements essential to electronics including cellphones and defense systems, it could be facing liquidation, or it could be targeted for a deal involving an unnamed foreign entity. The situation is “fluid,” Judge Sontchi commented during hearings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Molycorp bondholders yesterday won court approval to buy mineral rights and intellectual property associated with the facility, but are leaving the mine itself behind. To counter protests from regulators concerned Molycorp was walking away from environmental risks, the company pointed to surety bonds and the scrap value of the plant, which will help fund a cleanup.

Swift Energy Co.’s reorganization plan won approval from a bankruptcy judge on Wednesday, paving the way for the oil and gas driller to exit chapter 11 under the control of its bondholders, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath signed off on the plan, which will swap $905 million in bond debt for most of the new equity in the restructured Swift. It also will allocate a 4 percent equity stake in the postbankruptcy company to existing shareholders, as well as fully repay about $46 million in unsecured claims. Judge Walrath’s approval came after Swift Energy’s attorneys listed numerous modifications made to the plan to resolve objections and concerns from the likes of the U.S. Department of the Interior, unsecured creditors and the Internal Revenue Service. The reorganization plan was put to a creditor vote in mid-February and was approved by 91 percent of the senior note holders.

Television and radio station owner Casa Media Partners LLC is preparing to sell off some of its unused broadcasting airwaves at a government-run auction that begins next week after a bankruptcy judge approved that participation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. With his signature, Judge Robert Mark cleared Casa Media Partners to sell unused spectrum at the Federal Communications Commission’s multibillion-dollar auction that begins on March 29 and will likely take months to complete. During the sale, the government will buy broadcast television licenses, rearrange the airwaves and then sell licenses for cellular service, giving TV stations a way to cash out of an asset that is likely more valuable for wireless operators.

Central Beef Inc., which operated as Florida's largest beef processing plant before recently suspending production, filed for bankruptcy protection after it couldn't find a buyer willing to keep it open, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Officials who put Central Beef's 214-worker plant into chapter 11 protection on Monday blamed several years of sales declines within the slaughterhouse industry, leading revenue to fall 9 percent to $164.3 million in the last two years. Central Beef officials have stopped buying cattle and are grinding remaining meat while they continue to search for buyers for the company's 107,630-square-foot manufacturing operations in Florida.

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. won permission to use the bankruptcy process to return what it says are some of its less attractive airplanes and engines, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company can turn over six Embraer SA E145 regional jets and three engines to Citibank NA, an agent to an outstanding loan, Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said yesterday. It also obtained permission to reject the lease for a seventh Embraer plane. Citibank said that the aircraft or engines at stake in the current motion are collateral under a revolving credit facility that now has a balance of $23 million. Judge Lane said that Citibank, which had complained that some of the aircraft had been separated from their engines, will have to bring legal claims later if it can’t work out a resolution.