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Energy XXI Ltd. on Friday announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from chapter 11, according to a press release. Through this process, Energy XXI has substantially improved its financial position by eliminating more than $3.6 billion of debt from its balance sheet. Effectively immediately, Energy XXI common stock will cease trading on the OTC Market. Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. (EGC), as successor to Energy XXI, will have approximately 33 million shares outstanding after the reorganization issued pursuant to the restructuring plan. Read more. 

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Peabody Energy Corp. said yesterday that it extended a deadline for creditors to join financing deals aimed at bringing the largest U.S. coal miner out of bankruptcy amid growing creditor support for its plan of reorganization, Reuters reported. Last week, Peabody unveiled its plan to eliminate more than $5 billion of debt and raise capital from creditors with a $750 million private placement and a $750 million rights offering. The financing agreements were funded by key creditors that signed on to a plan support agreement with Peabody, although a portion of those deals were reserved for other noteholders if they agreed to back Peabody's plan by Wednesday. Peabody said in a statement the deadline was extended to today for Peabody noteholders to join the financing deals, which offer an opportunity to receive financial incentives. Peabody said a judge on Wednesday extended the deadline to Jan. 6 for a group of large investors holding about $444 million of the company's securities who had filed a lawsuit to halt the financing process.

A group of bondholders is planning to reject iHeartMedia Inc.’s latest effort to push out maturities in a setback to the biggest U.S. radio operator teetering under $21 billion in debt, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Almost half the holders of $347 million of bonds coming due in just over a year have banded together to oppose the debt exchange offered by the company. The unsecured creditors intend to notify the company that they won’t take part in the bond swap that would deliver so-called priority-guarantee notes maturing in 2021 to the holders. The group is working with law firm Paul Weiss and plans to push for better terms. The latest discord presents another potential setback in the radio broadcaster’s attempt to address a mountain of borrowings heaped on it from a 2008 buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The debt-load has complicated Chief Executive Officer Bob Pittman’s attempt to win back audiences who have been lured away by online music-streaming providers such as Spotify.

Big Apple Circus is planning a February bankruptcy auction for the right to acquire its copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property and circus equipment, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The procedure for the auction, described in court papers submitted on Friday by the circus’s lawyers, will need to be approved by a bankruptcy judge. Though the future of the Big Apple Circus remains uncertain, an auction may be the initial step toward resurrecting the show for 2017 and beyond. Circus Executive Director Will Maitland Weiss said yesterday that he’s optimistic the circus will carry on under a new owner, adding that several parties have expressed interest in purchasing the circus’s assets. Founded in 1977, the one-ring show became a New York cultural tradition, with holiday-season performances in Damrosch Park behind Lincoln Center and later on tour. But for the better part of a year, the future has been in doubt after financial problems forced management to cancel this year’s performance slate. The circus filed for bankruptcy in November.

Implant Sciences Corp. shareholders are seeking bankruptcy-court permission to sue funds affiliated with troubled hedge fund Platinum Partners, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The official committee representing Implant Sciences shareholders last week filed papers asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to authorize it to sue DMRJ Group LLC and Monstant Partners LLC on Implant Sciences' behalf. According to the shareholders, Implant Sciences has "taken no action" to pursue the legal claims it has against the funds. The shareholders' request comes in the wake of the recent arrest and indictment of six Platinum executives on charges of investment fraud. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Platinum funds, which are liquidating, were a big investor in Implant Sciences.

Linn Energy LLC's equity holders, a group that stands to be wiped out in the oil-and-gas company's restructuring, has asked a bankruptcy court to appoint an official committee to represent their interests, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Two shareholders of the bankrupt oil-and-gas company said they believe there is value available to equity owners now that oil and gas prices have rebounded from the rock-bottom lows that sent so many companies into bankruptcy. According to documents filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Victoria, Texas, the shareholders added that most of the people who own Linn shares can't afford to pay legal fees out of pocket. Even as equity holders protest, Linn has received broad support for the restructuring from its debtholders and plans to present that plan to the court on Jan. 24.

Basic Energy Services has completed its restructuring and recapitalization plan and emerged from chapter 11 protection, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported today. The oil field services company filed for chapter 11 in Wilmington, Del., in October after saying that it had reached a deal with creditors on a prepackaged reorganization to reduce its debt. The company announced it was exiting bankruptcy court on Dec. 23. With its pre-packaged plan, Basic divided among several investors over $800 million of unsecured debt, including accrued interest, in the restructuring. It also eliminated over $60 million in annual cash interest and raised $125 million of new capital, according to a company statement. Stockholders will receive new common stock and warrants in the reorganized company. Read more. 

Get a better understanding of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt. Order your copy of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s bankrupt operating unit resolved a dispute with its lenders on Friday, paving the way for a consensual plan to push the casino group out of its $18 billion chapter 11, Reuters reported. In filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, bank lenders said that they had reached an agreement over their recovery terms and were withdrawing a threat to abandon a plan to end Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. Inc.’s two-year bankruptcy. The lenders, which include Blackstone Group LP's GSO Capital Partners, had set a Dec. 24 deadline for reaching a deal, without which the unit's restructuring plan would have fallen apart.