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Verso Corp., the papermaker that employs more than 560 at its mill in Jay, Maine, has emerged from bankruptcy, the Portland Press Herald reported on Saturday. The Tennessee-based company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January to clear $2.4 billion in debt. On Friday, it filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to implement its reorganization plan and issue 34.4 million shares of new stock. While complex, the bankruptcy plan’s centerpiece is to issue shares of stock to creditors in lieu of cash repayment. The new common stock will be issued to creditors that were owed money by Verso and its NewPage subsidiary before the bankruptcy. As part of Friday’s filing, the company said that it has taken the necessary steps to have its shares once again listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VRS. Trading will begin today. Verso’s stock was delisted in September because its share price fell below the required $1 minimum.

Yellow-pages company Dex Media Inc. won court approval for a plan to restructure a debt load totaling $2.4 billion and wrap up yet another bankruptcy case, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross on Friday confirmed Dex's chapter 11 plan, which aims to slash more than $1.8 billion in debt off Dex's books. Dex lawyer Brad Giordano said on Friday that the chapter 11 plan not only slashes the company's debts but also includes $600 million in new financing to fund the company's operations going forward. Under Dex's chapter 11 plan, senior lenders will swap approximately $2.1 billion in debt for all of the equity in the restructured company, cash and $600 million in bankruptcy-exit financing. Unsecured bondholders owed about $270 million will receive $5 million in cash under the plan, as well as warrants to buy up to 10 percent of the company's new equity. Court papers show their estimated recovery to be four to six cents of every dollar they are owed.

When a federal judge approved Alpha Natural Resources’ bankruptcy exit plan two weeks ago, regulators, industry leaders and environmentalists breathed a collective sigh of relief, but while the plan will keep two large coal mines operating and set the stage for a stricter approach to self-bonding, the long-term outlook for Alpha is murkier, the Casper (Wyo.) Star Tribune reported today. Alpha was the first of three large coal companies operating in Wyoming to file for bankruptcy amid one of the most difficult years for coal in three decades. Arch Coal, which operates the Black Thunder Mine, and Peabody Energy, which runs the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, soon followed. But as the first company to reach a restructuring agreement with regulators and the courts, Alpha is expected to set a precedent for the other companies. Environmentalist hope Alpha’s plan will change the state’s approach to environmental bonding. State regulators want pragmatic deals that preserve Wyoming jobs. However, in a bearish market with hesitant lenders and federal oversight, widespread uncertainty remains about the viability of Alpha’s financial plan post-bankruptcy.

Oil-field-services provider Seventy Seven Energy Inc. is preparing to get out of bankruptcy after a judge agreed to approve a reorganization plan that would give the Oklahoma company access to up to $100 million in a new borrowing deal, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein said in court yesterday that she would give Seventy Seven Energy permission to put its reorganization plan into action. The plan would allow bondholders owed $1.1 billion to take over most of the ownership in the company, which provides drilling, hydraulic fracturing and oilfield-rental services to exploration and production companies. Under the company’s reorganization plan, its unsecured debt would be fully paid. Shareholders would receive warrants for 20 percent of new common stock. Seventy Seven Energy filed for bankruptcy on June 7, facing roughly $1.7 billion in debt.

Venoco Inc. won bankruptcy-court approval yesterday for a restructuring plan that will slash nearly $1 billion in debt from the oil and gas producer’s books, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross confirmed Venoco’s chapter 11 plan of reorganization, paving the way for the Denver-based company to exit bankruptcy protection. Smoothing the way for Venoco to secure the court’s approval was an early settlement of potential legal claims by one major bondholder and a last-minute deal to resolve the objections to the restructuring from two other bondholders. Amid the decline in oil and gas prices, Venoco sought chapter 11 protection in March after securing support for its restructuring from secured bondholders Apollo Capital Management and MAST Capital Management. Apollo, a unit of New York-based Apollo Global Management, and Boston-based MAST agreed to forgive some $339 million in first- and second-lien bond debt in exchange for most of the new equity in the restructured Venoco. Apollo representatives are also slated to get three of the company’s four board seats when it leaves bankruptcy, Venoco lawyer Robert Burns said at yesterday’s hearing. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

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