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With less than a month to go before Texas regulators must decide whether to allow a group led by Hunt Consolidated Inc. to buy Energy Future’s Oncor Electric Delivery Co. utility, an unlikely hurdle has been thrown up, by Oncor, Bloomberg News reported today. The power distributor has raised red flags about key aspects of the deal, which is the cornerstone of the plan to allow Energy Future to emerge from bankruptcy. Oncor’s questions bolster the concerns of a long list of opponents to the deal, from consumer advocates to the Texas Public Utility Commission’s own staff. While Oncor hasn’t asked that the transaction be rejected, it said in filings with the commission that the terms of the purchase might not be good for Oncor’s customers, revenue and credit ratings. 

A bondholder lawsuit against Caesars Entertainment Corp., which the casino company has warned could plunge it into bankruptcy alongside its operating unit, was stayed by Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar on Friday, Reuters reported. Judge Goldgar said that the stay on the litigation would be lifted either on May 9 or 60 days after an examiner publishes his report into corporate deals that the bondholders allege stripped the operating unit of its best assets. The operating unit filed for bankruptcy in Goldgar's court last year. The judge ordered an examiner, Richard Davis, to investigate those allegations and Davis has said that his report will be released by the middle of March. Caesars has said that it expects to prevail in the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, but it wanted to remove the threat it could be found to be liable for billions of dollars to holders of bonds issued by its operating unit. The bondholders sued in New York because they believe the parent company guaranteed the bonds, which were issued by the now-bankrupt Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc.

Regional carrier Republic Airways Holdings Inc filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, blaming several quarters of falling revenue after having to ground aircraft amid a pilot shortage, Reuters reported yesterday. The Indianapolis-based short-haul carrier, which feeds flights to American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. brands, listed assets of $3.6 billion and $3.0 billion of liabilities, court documents showed. Republic offers approximately 1,000 daily flights to more than 100 cities in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas. United said yesterday that it does not expect to change its flight schedules because of the bankruptcy. American said that it is too early to assess an impact on scheduling.

Abengoa SA put its U.S. bioenergy unit into chapter 11 protection yesterday with up to $10 billion in liabilities, the latest twist in the multinational parent's race to avoid becoming Spain's largest corporate failure, Reuters reported. The U.S. filing came as the Spanish company faced a March 28 deadline to agree on a wide-ranging restructuring plan with its banks and bondholders, without which it could be forced to declare bankruptcy. The filing by Abengoa Bioenergy US Holding LLC was prompted by involuntary bankruptcy petitions against two subsidiaries earlier this month by grain suppliers, including Gavilon Grain LLC, the Farmers Cooperative Association, The Andersons Inc. and Central Valley Ag. The suppliers, which claim to be owed more than $4 million, said they were told that Abengoa Bioenergy, whose Spanish parent controls the "central treasury," had run out of cash, court documents showed.

Molycorp has reached a settlement with the unsecured creditors’ committee in its chapter 11 case on the terms of a modified reorganization plan, Forbes.com reported yesterday. Under the proposed settlement, unsecured creditors (including deficiency claims arising from the 10 percent senior secured notes) would receive 7.5 percent of the reorganized company’s equity in the event of a standalone reorganization plan, with senior lender Oaktree Capital Management receiving 92.5 percent of the reorganized equity. If there is a sale of the entire company under the plan, unsecured creditors (again, including deficiency claims) would receive 7.5 percent of the proceeds of the sale, with Oaktree receiving 92.5 percent. Under the standalone option, the company’s reorganized equity value would be $417 million, meaning that the unsecured claim distribution would be valued at $31.3 million.

The U.S. government fears Alpha Natural Resources Inc.'s proposal to sell its "crown jewel assets" to its lenders won't provide for cleaning up pollution at Alpha's mines, posing a "serious threat to public health and safety,“ Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The coal miner's plan to sell key assets to its lenders, whose $500 million bid Alpha wants to test through an auction process, has drawn some two dozen bankruptcy-court filings from creditors raising various concerns with the proposal or objecting outright. Among them is the federal government. The lenders' credit bid---that is, not hard cash but rather a pledge to forgive $500 million in debt they are owed---puts Alpha at risk of becoming unable to comply with its obligations to reclaim the land and treat the water at its mines, the government said.

Forest Park Medical Center LLC, the operator of luxury surgical hospitals in Texas, filed for chapter 11 protection Sunday, months after several of its hospitals entered bankruptcy court, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Dallas-based Forest Park has eight affiliated bankruptcy filings, including its locations in Frisco, Fort Worth and Southlake, court papers show. The other affiliated filings are related to real estate agencies throughout Texas. The operator listed between $10 million and $50 million in both assets and liabilities in court papers. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

For more on hospital and health care insolvencies, be sure to pick up a copy of the ABI Health Care Insolvency Manual, Third Edition from the ABI Bookstore. 

Craig Energy, a Denver-based oilfield services firm, filed for chapter 11 protection, the Denver Post reported today. Facing debt in excess of $45 million — more than $38 million of which is secured — Craig Energy listed assets of $26.2 million, primarily in equipment such as drill rigs, pumps and vehicles. Craig Energy's operations span formations as Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, Niobrara in Wyoming and Colorado, and Bone Spring in Texas. Court filings show that annual revenue sunk by more than 50 percent to $46.2 million in 2015 from the year before. Read more. 

Get an indepth look of what happens when an oil, gas or other natural resources company goes bankrupt with ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

A bankruptcy judge ordered rapper 50 Cent to come to her courtroom and explain several pictures posted on social media websites that show him playing with stacks of cash, the Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge Ann Nevins told the 40-year-old entertainer’s lawyer that his Instagram photos are raising questions about whether he is being truthful about his financial situation. “I’m concerned about allegations of nondisclosure and a lack of transparency in the case,” Judge Nevins said at a hearing on Thursday. “There’s a purpose of having a bankruptcy process be transparent, and part of that purpose is to inspire confidence in the process.” She added that bankruptcy is a place where “honest, but unfortunate” people can get a fresh start. Earlier court papers put a spotlight on three pictures of 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, with bundles of cash. One picture showed cash piles in his fridge.