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New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. is eyeing the pile of professional bills Energy Future Holdings Corp. has paid, a mound that was near the $500 million mark in April and continues to accumulate, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Sunday, Elliott launched a campaign to get a seat on the official committee that reviews fees in the chapter 11 proceeding of Energy Future, the former TXU Corp. Earlier this year, the hedge fund became Energy Future’s largest creditor and launched an activist effort to push the three-year-old bankruptcy proceeding to a swift end. That end could come as early as next year, assuming Sempra Energy Inc. succeeds in buying Energy Future’s last remaining asset, an 80 percent stake in the electricity transmission business, Oncor. Elliott battled a $9 billion offer for Oncor from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., holding the door open for Sempra — and a $450 million price improvement.

British bank Barclays Plc submitted an alternative proposal to restructure Seadrill, the oil rig company said in a U.S. court filing, Reuters reported. Seadrill, which filed for chapter 11 restructuring in a U.S. court on Sept. 12, has already received two restructuring proposals. The Norwegian company, once the largest drilling rig operator by market value, filed for bankruptcy protection after being hit hard by oil company investment cutbacks following the fall in oil prices. One of the proposals is from its main owner, Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen and a group of hedge funds. The other came from an ad-hoc group of unsecured bondholders, including about 40 investors from the United States, Europe and Asia.

Toys ‘R’ Us Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in September, is considering closing at least 100 U.S. stores in the face of weak holiday sales, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. sales have declined about 15 percent this Christmas-shopping season from a year earlier. The number of closed stores could reach approximately 200, but a final decision has not been made. The Wayne, N.J.-based company operated 879 U.S. stores as of the end of January, according to its last annual report.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the public trustee in Alice Rogoff’s Alaska Dispatch News bankruptcy case may hire a Seattle legal firm with expertise in recovering assets, the Alaska Journal of Commerce. Bankruptcy Judge Gary Spraker didn’t buy into an argument by Rogoff’s attorney that such a move would be a wasted expense. Public trustee Nacole Jipping is obligated to examine the affairs and records of Alaska Dispatch News LLC and requires special legal expertise to do so, her attorney, William Artus, had argued in asking Spraker’s permission to hire extra counsel. “To suggest the distribution would be smaller if (another attorney is hired) is not sufficient basis, or any basis for that matter, to not employ special counsel,” Spraker said in response to Rogoff’s bankruptcy attorney, Cabot Christianson, who argued extensively in written and oral arguments against hiring Bush Kornfeld of Seattle. Christianson claimed that Rogoff would be the recipient of 88 percent of any money recovered during the chapter 7 process because she is owed $16.6 million in “loans” she claims to have made to the Alaska Dispatch News. Therefore, she would see the biggest losses in a lower monetary recovery after contingency fees are paid out.

Global A&T Electronics, a Singapore-based chip assembler that took on hefty debt a decade ago through a buyout by TPG Capital and Affinity Equity Partners, filed for bankruptcy as a 2013 debt exchange came back to haunt it, Bloomberg News reported. The chip-assembler listed debt of more than $1 billion and assets of over $500 million in chapter 11 papers filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Pursued by bondholders since 2014, when a GSO Capital Partners fund and others cried foul over the debt exchange, Global A&T finally seemed to put the problem behind it when it announced a settlement in mid-September. At the same time, other bondholders had come forward to say they weren’t giving up their own lawsuit over the debt exchange, brought in 2017.

Xceligent Inc., one of the country’s largest commercial real-estate data providers, told its staff to “pack up their personal belongings and exit the building within the next 30 minutes” in the wake of its chapter 7 liquidation filing on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. “A chapter 7 trustee will inventory all company property and, where missing, may seek to recover such property through the relevant court,” said an email delivered to Xceligent employees after the filing. “It is therefore extremely important that no company property be taken with your personal belongings.” Xceligent, which provided the commercial real-estate industry building-specific data on such things as occupancy and rents, began the liquidation process following a bruising one-year legal battle with arch-rival CoStar Group Inc. Xceligent’s business results also were disappointing, causing its parent, Daily Mail and General Trust PLC, to write its value down to zero in recent months.

Charlotte Russe Inc. is poised to become the latest apparel retailer to hand control to creditors under an out-of-court restructuring transaction announced on Friday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Charlotte Russe said it signed a deal to hand lenders 100 percent of its equity ownership, subject to dilution from a management stock plan, in exchange for their agreement to forgive $124 million in loan debt and make other concessions. Private-equity firm Advent International took San Diego-based Charlotte Russe private in 2009 for $17.50 a share, or $380 million. The company operates mall-based stores in the crowded “fast fashion” segment, selling inexpensive trendy teenage girl’s clothing and competing with the likes of Forever 21 and H&M.

Charming Charlie LLC, the latest mall-based retailer to seek bankruptcy protection as online shopping reshapes the industry, believes it can survive its trip through chapter 11, the Wall Street Journal reported. The retail chain’s lawyers appeared yesterday before Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., upbeat about the chain’s prospects. “There’s a realistic opportunity for this company to rehabilitate itself and survive for many years to come,” said Joshua Sussberg, a Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorney representing Charming Charlie. Sussberg, an ABI "40 under 40" honoree, has represented other retailers under bankruptcy protection this year, including Gymboree Corp., BCBG Max Azria Inc., and most recently, Toys ’R Us Inc. Charming Charlie has reached a restructuring pact with its lenders and backers, which include private-equity firms TSG Consumer Partners and Hancock Park Associates, subject to court approval. The proposed deal calls for the elimination of debt in exchange for control of the company.

Knight Energy Holdings LLC has emerged from chapter 11 protection with a new majority shareholder, the Lafayette (La.) Daily Advertiser reported. Clearlake Capital Group LP and its affiliates, along with Knight Energy Holdings, announced on Tuesday that Clearlake had successfully completed the recapitalization of Knight in partnership with the company's management team, the Knight family and other stakeholders. The recapitalization, completed under chapter 11 protection, reduced more than $175 million in the company's total debt balance, the release states. Knight Energy, headquartered in Lafayette, is one of the largest privately owned oilfield rental tool companies in the world. The company filed for chapter 11 in August.

Drilling rig firm Seadrill confirmed on Wednesday that it had received two rival bids for its debt restructuring from unsecured bondholders, Reuters reported. The company, which filed for chapter 11 restructuring in a U.S. court on Sept. 12, has sought alternative proposals for the plan put forward by its main owner, Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen and a group of hedge funds. Fredriksen and the group of hedge funds have proposed to invest $1.06 billion via new equity and secured debt to restructure indebted Seadrill, once the largest drilling rig operator by market value. Seadrill declined to provide more details on the bids or the bidders, but said its evaluation was pending “the receipt of a satisfactory deposit from bidders.”