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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. 

Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest privately owned coal producer, filed for chapter 11 protection today in the wake of a sharp fall in coal prices that left it unable to service a recent debt-fueled expansion into Australia, Reuters reported. The company listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $10 billion to $50 billion, according to a court filing. Peabody's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing ranks among the largest in the commodities sector since energy and metals prices began to fall in the middle of 2014 as once fast-growing markets such as China and Brazil began to slow. Peabody has secured $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing from both secured and unsecured creditors, including a $500 million term loan, $200 million bonding accommodation facility and a letter of credit worth $100 million. The case is in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, St. Louis, case number 16-42529.

Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection, the latest youth-oriented clothing chain to falter in an increasingly cut-throat retail environment, Bloomberg News reported today. Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm that loaned $60 million to the retailer in 2011, has worked out a deal that will help PacSun avoid liquidation. The pre-packaged bankruptcy agreement involves swapping debt for equity after the retailer emerges from chapter 11. PacSun also will get financing to continue operating during the restructuring process. Without the deal, PacSun might have faced a total shutdown of the surfwear chain, which has struggled to adapt to shifting consumer tastes.

The owner of Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles has filed for bankruptcy as the famous Californian soul food restaurant's parent company, East Coast Foods, Inc., says that it owes creditors between $10 million and $50 million with assets totaling less than $50,000, CNNMoney.com reported yesterday. Roscoe's, which has five locations in the Los Angeles area, has drawn big names including President Barack Obama, Snoop Dogg, David Beckham and Larry King. According to court documents, East Coast Foods owes $3.2 million to Daniel Beasley, a black employee who successfully sued the company for harassment and discrimination while he was employed at a Roscoe's restaurant. In September 2015, a jury ordered the company to pay Beasley $1.6 million in damages and another $1.6 million for attorneys' fees.

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.

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.) 

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 recently updated When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. 

Citing “severe financial distress,” American Hospice Management Holdings has filed for bankruptcy protection so it can sell its money-losing business in the next six weeks, CFO.com reported today. The provider of hospice care in seven states has been seeking a buyer since March 2013. In filing chapter 11 on Sunday, it said that an expedited sale through a bankruptcy proceeding “would best preserve the underlying value of its operations and maximize the value of [its] assets” for the benefit of creditors and shareholders. Hospice Partners of America has made a stalking-horse bid to acquire American Hospice’s operations in Virginia and Texas. Additional bidders will be sought for the operations in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, and the sale process must close by April 30, according to the company.

Central Beef Inc., which operated as Florida's largest beef processing plant before recently suspending production, filed for bankruptcy protection after it couldn't find a buyer willing to keep it open, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Officials who put Central Beef's 214-worker plant into chapter 11 protection on Monday blamed several years of sales declines within the slaughterhouse industry, leading revenue to fall 9 percent to $164.3 million in the last two years. Central Beef officials have stopped buying cattle and are grinding remaining meat while they continue to search for buyers for the company's 107,630-square-foot manufacturing operations in Florida.

Emerald Oil Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, a month after the oil explorer and producer warned that it could go bankrupt as it remained in default with creditors, Reuters reported. The Denver, Colo.-based company joins a string of energy-related firms to seek court protection from creditors after oil prices plummeted since mid-2014. Emerald listed assets in the range of $10 million to $50 million, and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. Read more.

Has the final shoe dropped for the E&P industry? Session at ABI’s 34th Annual Spring Meeting examines with experts discussing oil industry distress. Register by Friday before rates go up!