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A U.S. judge has agreed to halt U.S. creditor lawsuits against Abengoa SA, an international renewable energy company that has been waging a multi-layer battle for more than a year to avoid becoming Spain's largest ever corporate failure, Reuters reported yesterday. A ruling on a more contentious dispute involving the Seville-based company's bankrupt U.S. subsidiary and a failed power plant is still pending. The company put its U.S. subsidiaries in chapter 11 bankruptcy and filed for chapter 15 protection from creditors of non-U.S. businesses earlier this year while it thrashed out a $10 billion global debt restructuring deal in Spain. Last month Abengoa received shareholder and Spanish court approval for its high-stakes debt-for-equity deal, and on Thursday won backing for that plan and the halt to U.S. creditor lawsuits from the U.S. court in Delaware that is overseeing the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey must still rule on a plan to enable Abengoa's main subsidiary, Abeinsa Holding Inc., a construction and engineering business, to emerge from chapter 11.

Noble Environmental Power LLC, a bankrupt wind-energy company backed by billionaire Michael Dell, has won court approval for its restructuring plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross on Friday approved the plan, which allows the company’s key lender, Dell’s MSD Capital, to take a 100 percent stake in the reorganized wind-energy company, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The chapter 11 restructuring plan will repay nearly all of the Centerbrook, Conn., energy company’s creditors in full, including general unsecured creditors. MSD Capital, Dell’s investment operation, was established in 1998 to exclusively manage the money of Michael Dell and his family. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which owned a 29 percent stake in the wind-farm company, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a Canadian pension fund that owns 14.3 percent, will see their existing equity stakes wiped out under the deal. Noble entered chapter 11 protection in September with plans to hand over 100 percent control of its business to Dell’s investment firm.

Digital sports network Scout Media Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection with plans to sell what remains of the business at an auction next month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The sports media company on Friday asked a bankruptcy judge for immediate access to a $6.2 million lifeline from Multiplier Capital LP. Without the new financing, lawyers for the company said in court papers that it would be forced to cease its operations. According to court papers filed on Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, a “perfect storm of an unsustainable balance sheet” as well as financial pressures caused by the abrupt departure of the company’s chief executive left the ailing business with no choice but to try to place its assets in the hands of a new owner as quickly as possible. Scout Media has been exploring the possibility of a sale since September, court papers show, but no formal offers have materialized. With the help of a consultant, the company contacted 154 potential buyers, of which 20 have expressed interest but haven’t put forward bids.

Sears Holdings Corp. reported a $748 million quarterly loss as revenue and gross margin fell, extending woes for the struggling retailer as it continues to explore ways to monetize its key brands, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Chief Executive Edward Lampert said Sears is “fully committed to restoring profitability,” an uphill effort so far that the company said could include additional expense reductions and financing transactions. Sears in May said that it was exploring opportunities for its Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands, its Sears Home Services business, and the company’s real-estate portfolio. The company on Thursday said that those efforts are continuing, but it didn’t provide an update. For its fiscal third quarter, Sears reported a loss of $748 million, or $6.99 a share, compared with a loss of $454 million, or $4.26 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 13 percent to $5.03 billion from $5.75 billion a year earlier, dented by fewer Kmart and Sears stores in operation as well as a 7.4 percent drop in same-store sales.

For the last two years, one of the most arresting stories in the concert business has been the decline of SFX Entertainment, which tried to build a global network of dance-music festivals but collapsed and went bankrupt, the New York Times DealBook reported yesterday. SFX emerged from bankruptcy protection last week, with its debt load reduced by about $400 million, and this week it announced a new name and leadership. The new company, LiveStyle, will be led by Randy Phillips, the former chief executive of the concert company AEG Live, and there will be a commitment to something akin to its original mission of being “the world’s largest electronic music event producer,” according to the announcement, though it offered few other details. According to its statement, LiveStyle will be based in Los Angeles and retain control of some of SFX’s flagship properties, including the Tomorrowland and Electric Zoo festivals, as well as the online music store Beatport and the ticketing service Paylogic.

ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle provides a recap of the oral argument yesterday before the Supreme Court in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. Click here to watch. 

To read his special edition of Rochelle’s Daily Wire focused on the oral argument, please click here.  

For a full transcript of yesterday’s oral argument in Jevic, please click here.