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SunEdison Inc., once the fastest-growing U.S. renewable energy company, filed for chapter 11  protection yesterday after a short-lived but aggressive binge of debt-fueled acquisitions proved unsustainable, Reuters reported yesterday. In its bankruptcy filing, the company said that it had assets of $20.7 billion and liabilities of $16.1 billion as of Sept. 30. SunEdison's two publicly traded subsidiaries, TerraForm Power Inc. and TerraForm Global Inc., are not part of the bankruptcy. In a statement, the companies, known as yieldcos, said that they had sufficient liquidity to operate and that their assets are not available to satisfy the claims of SunEdison creditors. The bankruptcy "will present challenges," however, including with financing agreements for certain projects, the yieldcos said. The chapter 11 filing caps SunEdison Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Chatila's seven-year quest to transform a struggling maker of silicon wafers into a renewable energy giant able to capitalize on burgeoning demand for solar and wind energy amid growing concerns about climate change. Chatila was named CEO of what was then called MEMC Electronic Materials in 2009 and almost immediately bought fledgling solar project developer SunEdison. The company changed its name four years later and embarked on a rapid expansion that included entering new businesses like wind and energy storage and taking on projects worldwide. That growth racked up billions of dollars of debt. Solar industry watchers said the bankruptcy was not a reflection of the overall financial health of the sector, which is growing rapidly.

Tulsa-based Sheehan Pipe Line Construction Co. filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, the Tulsa World reported yesterday. Founded in 1903, the 113-year-old pipeline construction company's functions have expanded to include hydrostatic testing, valve changing and pipeline rehabilitation, but the company's focus is still primarily on laying infrastructure. The company's chapter 11 filing lists both estimated assets and liabilities as being somewhere in the $50 to $100 million range. The company's estimated number of creditors are listed as in the range of 200 to 999.

The city of San Bernardino, Calif., wants to shield individual police officers from liability for settlements and pending lawsuits over alleged incidents of brutality and excessive force as it attempts to emerge from bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A clause outlining protections for city employees, including its 250-person police department, was buried in San Bernardino’s latest plan to exit bankruptcy protection, which was filed last month. The bankruptcy court judge will consider this request, along with other aspects of the plan, in a hearing scheduled for April 27. The outcome of that hearing will help determine how much longer San Bernardino will remain mired in bankruptcy protection, which it entered in August 2012 after a collapse in housing prices led to a shortfall in tax revenues. Families who are suing the San Bernardino police department filed an objection with the bankruptcy court last week that said the current plan would unfairly “cloak the third-party actors responsible for the egregious conduct.” The city is facing 112 lawsuits that seek compensation for injuries and deaths allegedly caused by its police officers and employees, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, Calif. Some police officers were also named in lawsuits that were filed under civil-rights law.

Academy Sports + Outdoors and Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. have expressed interest in buying the assets of rival U.S. retailer Sports Authority Inc. that are on sale in a bankruptcy auction, Reuters reported on Friday. The auction will determine whether Sports Authority, which opened its first store in Florida in 1987 and expanded nationwide, will be sold off in pieces, or its creditors will hold on to it and try to find a buyer for its entirety. Both Dick's and Academy Sports have submitted letters of interest to buy some of the assets of Sports Authority, which filed for chapter 11 protection in March after seeing sales flatline in the face of online competition. New York City-based Modell's Sporting Goods is also interested in Sports Authority, which has 464 stores across the country. But family-owned Modell's, whose stronghold is on the U.S. East Coast, has not yet decided whether it will participate in the auction.

Officials with Peabody Energy say that they expect mine operations to continue as usual in the wake of bankruptcy filings, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Peabody's Director of Colorado Government Relations Mike Blank wrote in an email to State Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush that the bankruptcy proceedings will not affect operations in northwest Colorado, including at the Twentymile Coal Company, which employs about 300 people. Peabody officials say that employees will continue to receive their normal benefits and salaries and that all of the companies American mining operations are cash-flow positive. Peabody Energy Corp., based in St. Louis, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Sporting-goods retailer Sports Authority Inc. has pushed back the date for a planned bankruptcy auction amid “substantial” interest from several potential bidders, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Robert Klyman, one of the lawyers for the company, told Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. that the retailer hopes for a vigorous bidding contest for the stores and inventory. Judge Walrath yesterday authorized rules for the auction process. When it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, Sports Authority agreed with senior lenders to close a sale by the end of April. The new auction date is in May, and there will be two auctions. Leases for 109 stores being closed go on the auction block May 4 while the sale of pretty much everything else Sports Authority owns is slated for May 16.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. has filed for chapter 11 in a U.S. bankruptcy court to implement financial restructuring, Bloomberg News reported today. “Through the chapter 11 restructuring, the company will eliminate approximately $400 million in debt from its balance sheet, substantially de-leverage its capital structure and strategically position the company for long-term performance in an anticipated improving commodity price environment,” Houston-based Goodrich said. Goodrich earlier this month reached an agreement with creditors to use its "best efforts" to file for chapter 11 with a pre-packaged plan to reorganize and emerge from court as an operating business. That agreement came after the company’s debt-for-equity exchange offer failed to gain enough traction among debt holders. On March 16, Goodrich delayed releasing its annual report, citing a large loss that auditors have determined may affect the company’s ability to operate as a going concern. The loss comes "mainly as a result of substantial impaired asset writedowns," Goodrich said in the filing. Read more. 

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

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 revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. Print copies are available at the onsite bookstore at the Annual Spring Meeting. 

While the bulk of the $10 billion in debt that Peabody Energy Corp. is hoping to restructure in bankruptcy is held by hedge funds, banks and other sophisticated financial creditors, the coal company’s environmental obligations are also in play, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The St. Louis-based coal company sought chapter 11 protection yesterday in an attempt at “riding out the storm that has beset the coal industry,” according to Chief Financial Officer Amy B. Schwetz. Bankruptcy offers Peabody the breathing room to come up with a plan to reduce a debt load that includes $8.8 billion owed on various loans and bonds. But financial creditors aren’t the only ones affected by the bankruptcy. At risk are the company’s efforts to reclaim the land affected by its mining operations, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. In court papers, Peabody estimates its potential world-wide reclamation obligations are $723 million, although that number isn’t set in stone. Federal and state laws require coal miners like Peabody to reclaim the land and treat the water at mine sites as a condition of their mining permits. If the cleanup costs go unmet, the mine permits can be revoked, and the costs fall to taxpayers.

U.S. oil and gas producer Energy XXI Ltd., which has operations in Louisiana, Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, said today that it has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming one of the biggest casualties of the oil rout to date, Reuters reported. The company said that it will eliminate more than $2.8 billion in debt from its balance sheet through the chapter 11 restructuring. Energy XXI's bankruptcy filing underscores the stress oil and gas companies face as oil prices hover around $40 a barrel, down from above $100 almost two years ago. The company's break even is at $60 and above. Energy XXI said last month that it was delaying paying the interest due on the debt of one of its subsidiaries, kicking off a 30-day grace period. The company owed about $2.8 billion as of mid-February. The company follows more than 40 other energy companies who have sought court protection from their creditors last year. Up to a third of all producers may end up in bankruptcy this year if commodity prices remain depressed, according to consulting firm Deloitte. Read more. 

Has the final shoe dropped for the E&P industry? A session tomorrow 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 revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. Print copies will be available at the onsite bookstore at the Annual Spring Meeting. 

Verso Corp. has asked a bankruptcy judge to step in and decide whether the town of Jay, Maine, should hand back as much as $11.4 million in taxes assessed during the past three years, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported today. The company’s request comes as Verso has three appeals of its most recent tax bills pending before a state review board and local review boards. The town plans to argue the disputes should stay at the state and local levels. A hearing on Verso’s request is scheduled for today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company’s 2013 tax year appeal is set for a hearing May 9 and 10 before the Maine Board of Property Tax Review in Augusta, Maine. Read more.

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