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Holding companies for the nation’s second-largest independent financial adviser network, Cetera Financial Group, filed for chapter 11 protection Sunday, initiating the second phase of the restructuring of RCS Capital Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported today. Brokerage business RCS Capital filed for bankruptcy protection in January, initiating a prearranged workout that will allow lenders to take the retail business, Cetera, private. Saturday’s filing is a pre-packaged second-step, designed to minimize disruption to the retail business that will be the core of the post-bankruptcy operation. At the end of the process, Cetera Financial Group will operate as a privately owned business of RCS Capital, which will be owned by institutional investors. RCS said it expects the restructuring, which was detailed in a January announcement, will be completed by May.

Bondholders that have been at odds with rare-earths company Molycorp have agreed to a settlement that could ease approval of the company’s chapter 11 turnaround plan, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Molycorp, which filed for bankruptcy protection after the dive in prices for its products, is slated to emerge largely the property of Oaktree Capital Management, a secured lender that has been battling bondholders for control of the distressed business. A settlement unveiled on Friday recognizes the bondholders as the winning bidders on mineral rights at Molycorp’s mothballed Mountain Pass, Calif., mining facility, the sole U.S. source of elements used in consumer electronics. The ultimate fate of Mountain Pass won't be decided this week, when Molycorp asks a judge to sign off on its chapter 11 exit plan. Bondholders are trying to buy some of the assets but not the mine itself.

The parent of pipeline operator Southcross Energy Partners LP filed for bankruptcy Sunday after reaching a deal with its owners and the majority of its lenders that will erase $700 million in debt off the company’s books, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Parent company Southcross Holdings LP filed a pre-packaged chapter 11 plan after creditors voted to approve the company’s restructuring proposal. The plan calls for the holding company’s owners to pump up to $170 million into the pipeline operator in return for two-thirds of the equity in the reorganized company. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

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Investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners has pulled its buyout offer for Pacific Exploration & Production Corp., one of a few possible deals that the Canadian-Colombian oil company was hoping would stave off a bankruptcy filing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Pacific Exploration, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange but has most of its assets in Colombia, has been hit hard by falling oil prices and a lack of new discoveries. EIG Pacific Holdings, the entity formed by Washington, D.C.-based EIG Global to acquire Pacific, said on Friday it had ended its offer for $4.1 billion worth of Pacific’s senior bonds. The tender offer expired on Thursday, and EIG said that all tendered bonds have been returned. EIG had offered the bondholders 16 cents on the dollar and had promised an overhaul of Pacific’s management and the sale of assets. As Pacific worked to complete the deal with EIG in February, 40 percent of the bondholders agreed to take no action against the company before March 31, despite a missed interest payment. Bondholders could agree to give Pacific more time to arrange a deal. But as it currently stands, Pacific is down to only a few days before bondholders can demand immediate payment or force the company to file for bankruptcy protection. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Has the final shoe dropped for the E&P industry? A session at ABI's 34th Annual Spring Meeting features experts discussing energy industry distress. Click here to register. 

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

Creditors are attempting to force Whistler Energy II, the operator of an offshore oil platform where a worker was recently killed, into involuntary bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Five creditors who say they are owed $5 million for services, labor and materials provided to the Houston-based Whistler yesterday filed an involuntary chapter 11 petition against the company, court papers show. The petitioning creditors are Romfor Supply Co., Adriatic Marine LLC, Hydra Ops LLC, Scientific Drilling International Inc. and Patterson Services Inc., court papers show. Earlier this month, an employee of Nabors Industries Ltd. died while working on the Whistler-operated platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Federal regulators say they are currently investigating the incident. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Has the final shoe dropped for the E&P industry? A session at ABI's 34th Annual Spring Meeting features experts discussing energy industry distress. Register by Friday before rates go up!

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