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Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Canada’s largest alternative asset manager, has entered into exclusive talks to buy bankrupt SunEdison Inc.’s two yieldcos, valuing the power companies at as much as $2.46 billion, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Toronto-based Brookfield offered $12 a share for TerraForm Power Inc., conditional on acquiring more than half of sister company TerraForm Global Inc., according to a regulatory filing yesterday. SunEdison formed the two yieldcos as part of an expansion effort that made it the biggest clean energy company in the world, with assets spread across six continents. The two-year buying binge left it overextended and in April it filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy of 2016.

U.S. oilfield services company Forbes Energy Services Ltd. said that it expected to "promptly" emerge from bankruptcy after filing a chapter 11 plan yesterday with a pre-packaged deal to exchange $280 million of debt for equity, Reuters reported. In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Forbes said that the oil slump had reduced demand for its activities, rendering it unable to make payments on some of its debt. It said that holders of 87 percent of senior unsecured notes had voted to accept its restructuring plan. The Alice, Texas-based company operates around 173 well servicing rigs in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. It also transports and disposes of fluids used in drilling. Read more. 

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Peabody Energy Corp.’s plan to emerge from chapter 11 bankruptcy faces a "material risk" that the U.S. coal producer could suffer a $1 billion revenue loss due to a disputed lease at the world's largest coal mine, according to an objection filed to its reorganization plan, Reuters reported yesterday. The plan by Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to cut $5 billion of debt and emerge from bankruptcy in April is supported by most of its creditors, but has faced a series of official objections from other parties. Oil and gas driller Berenergy Corp. and Peabody hold overlapping federal mineral leases in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where Peabody operates the North Antelope Rochelle mine that provides the bulk of its coal production. In October a Wyoming District Court ruled that Peabody was entitled to mine through Berenergy's wells as long as it made certain payments to the oil and gas company. An appeal is pending before the state's Supreme Court.

AtopTech Inc., the once-promising vendor of place-and-route electronic design automation (EDA) software, announced that it filed for chapter 11 protection and expects to be sold after losing a long-running legal battle with leading EDA vendor Synopsys Inc., EE Times reported on Friday. ATopTech, which is privately held, announced that it filed a motion with the bankruptcy court to sell its business and has selected a stalking-horse bidder. It said that it expects a bankruptcy auction to take place in mid-March and that the sale will be completed by March 31. The company said that it expects to continue to manage and operate its business under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware until the sale.

ABN Amro wants to know what became of more than $300 million which it claims was collateral that the bankrupt U.S. unit of cocoa supplier Transmar Group may have moved to a European affiliate, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The Dutch bank asked a federal judge in Manhattan for permission “to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the apparent disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars in collateral and other property” from the estate of Transmar Commodity Group Ltd., which filed for bankruptcy in New York on the last day of 2016. ABN Amro, which is an agent for a lender group on the $400 million Transmar Commodity credit facility, said in a Jan. 17 court filing that about $313 million in asset value vanished from the company’s books sometime after the end of October. The bank said that some of the assets may have been transferred to Transmar affiliate Euromar Commodities GmbH. Euromar, which owns a cocoa-processing factory in Fehrbellin, Germany, began its own insolvency proceedings in the country in early December. The processor was partly felled by the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union, which weakened the pound and drove up prices for London cocoa futures. 

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge granted Avaya Inc. approval on Friday to tap $425 million of the $725 million loan proposed to carry the telecommunications company through its restructuring, funds the company said were essential to continue operations, Reuters reported. Avaya filed for chapter 11 protection on Thursday to cut its debt of about $6 billion after efforts to sell its call center business and reach a consensual deal with creditors failed. The company's lawyers said a significant portion of the $725 million loan, extended by an affiliate of Citigroup Inc. for up to a year, was funded by Avaya's existing lenders. Avaya plans to return to bankruptcy court today for approval on other expenses.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge yesterday denied a request by Peabody Energy Corp. shareholders to order the appointment of an official equity committee in the coal miner's chapter 11 restructuring, crushing hopes of a recovery for investors, Reuters reported. Shareholders led by hedge fund Mangrove Partners had urged the creation of an official committee, which would receive money from Peabody for lawyers and advisers and could help craft a reorganization plan. At a hearing in St. Louis, Mangrove cited several paths for a potential recovery for Peabody shareholders given a rise in coal prices. In rejecting the request, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barry Schermer asked why more money should be spent on legal fees when unsecured creditors such as Aurelius Capital Management and Elliott Management accept that they will not be paid in full. The two funds, among the most litigious on Wall Street, spent years battling Argentina in U.S. courts over the country's 2001 default. Peabody hopes to exit bankruptcy in April, a year after filing for bankruptcy, with a plan to cut $5 billion of debt and raise capital from creditors with a $750 million private placement and a $750 million rights offering. Peabody shares will be canceled and replaced with new stock which will be owned by creditors, the majority of which support the reorganization plan.

Telecommunications company Avaya Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday to reduce its debt load of about $6.3 billion but said that it would not sell its call center business, which it had tried to do last year, Reuters reported. The bankruptcy underscores the challenges telecommunications companies face as they transition to software and services from hardware. Early last year, Avaya had planned to sell its call center business but did not reach a deal with buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC, which had been in the lead to acquire it for about $4 billion. Avaya said that it must focus on its debt and that a sale of the call center would not maximize value for its customers or creditors. It is still negotiating deals to sell parts of its business. The company is hashing out terms of a restructuring deal with creditors. The original goal was to have one in place before bankruptcy, but an agreement was not reached. Avaya said an affiliate of Citigroup Inc. would provide a $725 million loan for up to a year to fund its operations during the reorganization.

Bankrupt South Korean shipping line Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. won U.S. court approval yesterday at a hearing for the $78 million sale of its stake in U.S. terminal operator Total Terminals International LLC, overcoming objections of container companies, Reuters reported. "My decision is to approve the sale," Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood said, adding that he would approve the transfer of the sale's proceeds to South Korea. The container companies are creditors of Hanjin and were concerned whether the shipping line was getting top dollar for its 54 percent stake in Total Terminals, which operates container terminals at the ports of Seattle and Long Beach, California, and was rushing to close the transaction. The container companies were also concerned about sale proceeds going to South Korea, where they argued their claims may not be treated fairly. Hanjin's sale of it stake in Total Terminals to Luxembourg-headquartered Terminal Investment Ltd, which includes Terminal Investment forgiving $54.6 million in debt owed by Hanjin, has already been approved in court in South Korea.