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Analysis: Role of Abengoa in Spotlight at U.S. Bankruptcy Showdown

Submitted by jhartgen@abi.org on

A leading U.S. subsidiary of Abengoa SA heads to court today to seek approval for a bankruptcy exit plan that opponents argue violates the law by prioritizing the Spanish parent and its international backers ahead of U.S. creditors, Reuters reported yesterday. Abeinsa Holding Inc. is one of dozens of global Abengoa subsidiaries that filed for U.S. chapter 11 and 15 bankruptcy this year while their Seville-based renewable energy parent thrashed out a debt restructuring deal in Spain to avoid its own bankruptcy. The U.S. subsidiaries, which range from small ethanol plants to construction and engineering firms like Abeinsa, were guarantors of $10 billion of debt held by the parent, creating one of the most complex cross-border restructurings of the past decade. A Spanish court approved Abengoa's restructuring agreement last month, giving a group of lenders including Spain's Santander equity in exchange for debt. Now the company needs a U.S. court to approve the plan and repayment terms for creditors of the U.S. subsidiaries. To win U.S. creditor support, Abengoa has proposed investing over $30 million cash in exchange for retaining full control of the U.S. units, allowing the Spanish company to maintain its position in one of its most important markets. Read more.

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Caesars Entertainment, CEOC Receive Creditor Support for CEOC Reorganization Plan

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Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. (CEOC) and its chapter 11 debtor subsidiaries announced yesterday that substantially all voting creditor classes have voted to accept CEOC's proposed plan of reorganization, according to a press release. The plan was accepted by more than 90 percent of voting creditors. Each of the creditor classes for the debtors' first lien noteholders, first lien bank lenders, second lien noteholders, subsidiary-guaranteed noteholders, and unsecured noteholders voted to accept the plan in numbers well in excess of what is necessary to confirm the plan. The overwhelming support for the plan is an important milestone toward CEOC confirming its plan and emerging from bankruptcy protection in 2017.

Oral Argument in Jevic Case Scheduled for Tomorrow at Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. (15-649) tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET. ABI’s Bill Rochelle will be covering the oral argument in Jevic tomorrow and will provide a video recap on ABI’s social media networks (Twitter, Facebook and Linked In) and a summary in the Rochelle Daily Wire. For more on the Jevic case, please click here.

Analysis: From Multiple Million-Dollar Brokerage Bonuses, to Bankruptcy

Submitted by jhartgen@abi.org on

Credit Suisse Group AG gave up on its wealth-management business in the U.S. last year, but it didn’t give up on collecting from Wilhelm Nash, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday. Nash is one of a number of former Credit Suisse brokers being pursued for repayment of bonuses, paid in the form of loans when they joined the firm that are forgivable after several years. The practice is common among banks. So are disputes, when employment ends abruptly and a broker fails to repay. Credit Suisse’s pursuit of Nash, for more than $1 million, has been particularly contentious. After Nash filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida late last year, lawyers for Credit Suisse filed suit against him in a West Palm Beach court in April, arguing that he has “fleeced” a few different financial firms by taking unpaid loans as bonuses — and shouldn’t be able to have his debts discharged.

Creditors Try to Force Scout Media Into Bankruptcy

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Scout Media Inc.’s creditors say the online sports publisher isn’t paying its bills and are trying to force the business, once owned by Fox Sports, into bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In court papers filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, three creditors launched an involuntary chapter 11 proceeding against Scout Media, saying the company is past due on a total of about $800,000. In a statement on Friday, Scout Media President Craig Amazeen said that the sports network would continue operating normally but declined to comment further. If the bankruptcy wins a judge’s approval and is allowed to proceed, it would force Scout Media to create a plan to repay its creditors and could spell the end of the sports network altogether. Scout Media has 21 days to reply to the bankruptcy filing. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles will oversee the case.

Bennu Oil & Gas Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Texas

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Bennu Oil & Gas LLC, which was formed to purchase ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s troubled drilling assets following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, indicating its intention to liquidate, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bennu, whose privately held operations were concentrated off the coast of Louisiana, sought chapter 7 on Wednesday at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. The company no longer operates, court papers show. In August, Texas’ Beal Bank USA successfully forced an affiliate of Bennu Oil & Gas, Bennu Titan LLC, into an involuntary chapter 11 bankruptcy and later won a judge’s order appointing an independent trustee to take control of the affiliate. Bennu Titan owns an offshore multicolumn drilling and production platform in the Gulf of Mexico that was being used by Bennu Oil & Gas. The platform has since been shut down. Beal Bank, the Dallas-based bank founded by Texas billionaire Andrew Beal, says it is owed $180.4 million stemming from a $350 million term loan it made to Bennu Titan in 2010. Court papers show a lack of funding from the parent crippled Bennu Titan’s ability to service its debt and ultimately sealed its fate. Read more. (Subscription required.)

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Nortel Takes Another Step Toward Wrapping Up Bankruptcy Case

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Judges in Canada and the U.S. yesterday approved materials explaining Nortel Networks Corp.’s creditor-repayment plan, inaugurating the beginning of the end of one of the priciest bankruptcies on record, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Yesterday’s court hearings launched the formal process of polling creditors on the bankruptcy plans that will end Nortel’s corporate life after eight years in bankruptcy, and divide the $7.3 billion in proceeds from its global going-out-of-business sale. Creditors have to weigh in formally, and the Nortel distribution schemes need to pass another court test, but checks may finally go out next year to creditors, including employees put out of work in 2009 when the telecommunications icon was swept under in the global recession.