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Lawyers who put International Shipholding Corp. into bankruptcy in July have announced a deal that would lead the vessel owner to be taken over by a larger maritime services firm, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers, International Shipholding officials said that Florida-based SEACOR Capital Corp. has offered to pay $10 million plus whatever company officials have spent on a roughly $18 million bankruptcy loan, for its operations. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, it operated 21 U.S. and foreign flag vessels that provide maritime transportation services. The deal still needs approval from Bankruptcy Judge Stuart M. Bernstein. The proposed takeover doesn’t include an International Shipholding division that handles logistical and seaborne transportation services in Southeast Asia. International Shipholding officials said that a company controlled by Chief Executive Erik L. Johnsen has offered to buy that division for $18 million.

Power producer NextEra Energy Inc. said yesterday that it would buy the remaining stake in Oncor Electric Delivery Co. for about $2.4 billion in cash, Reuters reported. The company said it would buy the estimated 20 percent indirect stake owned by Texas Transmission Holdings Corp. NextEra said in July it would buy bankrupt Texas power company Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s 80 percent indirect stake in Oncor in a deal valued at about $18.4 billion. That deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, provides NextEra access to the largest network of power lines in Texas.

Performance Sports Group Ltd., the maker of Bauer ice hockey gear, said yesterday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada to facilitate a restructuring and sale of almost all of its assets, Reuters reported. The company, which also makes baseball bats and other sports equipment, said that it would put its assets up for auction but already had a deal to sell nearly all of them for $575 million to an investor group led by Sagard Capital, its biggest shareholder, and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Former Performance Chairman Graeme Roustan told Reuters in August that he was working with investment banks to explore a bid for the company. The company listed assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion in its voluntary petition filed in Delaware under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Performance said that it expected operations to continue uninterrupted during the bankruptcy process, through a $386 million debtor-in-possession financing provided by existing lenders and the investor group.

Renewable energy giant SunEdison Inc. has placed its Canadian arm into bankruptcy while the parent company seeks more time under court protection in the U.S. to sell off assets and work out a strategy for repaying billions of dollars in debt, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company’s Canadian division, which also designs and develops renewable energy projects, says that it can no longer fund its operations. It sought protection on Thursday from both creditors and lawsuits under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, the equivalent of chapter 11 in the U.S. The Canadian operation, which is concentrated in Ontario, says its financial woes are largely tied to liquidity issues stemming from the bankruptcy of its parent company in the U.S. The Canadian unit’s businesses listed about $80 million in total assets and about $30 million in liabilities, in addition to about $90 million in other potential liabilities that are the subject of pending litigation.

The bankruptcy trustee mopping up after the collapse of ITT Educational Services Inc. has lined up $6 million worth of financing for the cleanup effort, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Loans are coming from finance affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, an existing lender to the failed for-profit educator, operator of the ITT Tech chain. Lawyers for bankruptcy trustee Deborah J. Caruso say that the cash is desperately needed, as the trustee can’t do much without funding. A bankruptcy judge in Indianapolis will review the loan at a hearing next week. ITT Tech shut its doors abruptly in September, after federal education authorities cut off its access to taxpayer-backed loans. The sudden closure was a shock to some 40,000 students enrolled for the fall semester and some 8,000 employees.

SandRidge Energy Inc. defended its move to purchase Atinum Midcon I LLC’s oil and gas drilling investments out of bankruptcy, urging a federal judge to disregard protest from Wells Fargo Bank N.A. officials who said the bank’s proposal to forgive $75 million is a better offer, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers, SandRidge lawyers said the offer from Wells Fargo, which handles Atinum’s loan of more than $265 million, wasn’t valid because it covered only a subset of Atinum’s roughly 1,600 oil and gas wells in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Under its offer, Wells Fargo offered to forgive $75 million in debt owed by Atinum, a Houston energy investor. SandRidge’s bid is valued about $67 million, made up of $47 million in cash and about $19 million in forgiven debt. Earlier this week, Wells Fargo officials argued that lawyers who put Atinum into bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on July 22 wrongly declared SandRidge’s offer as superior.

Paragon Offshore Plc said on Friday that it was evaluating its options after a U.S. judge rejected the offshore rig contractor's plan to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In an oral ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi said that the plan was not feasible because it removes too much cash from the company during the current downturn. The ruling does not preclude the company from a restructuring under a different plan, he said. "The company continues to believe, but cannot provide any assurances, that a positive resolution of the company's restructuring process can be achieved," Paragon said. Houston-based Paragon, with rigs around the world, filed a pre-negotiated chapter 11 in February with about $2.6 billion of long-term debt. Paragon's secured lenders had said that the company faced a risk of a second chapter 11 filing because of overly ambitious assumptions. Read more. 

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