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Avaya Inc. said that a path has been cleared for the telecommunications company to exit chapter 11 protection in an agreement with its senior creditors and the government's pension insurer, Reuters reported. Avaya said that it had backing from holders of more than half of its $4.38 billion first-lien debt and a settlement with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) to terminate its underfunded salaried employee pension plan. The agreements could cut more than $3 billion from the $6.3 billion in debt Avaya had when it entered bankruptcy in January. Avaya had faced challenges in trying to transition to software and services from a business centered on hardware, and failed to sell its call center business. Avaya also struggled with pension obligations. The PBGC has said Avaya's hourly workers plan was underfunded by $660 million and its salaried workers plan was underfunded by $1.24 billion. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company will pay the PBGC $300 million and give it 7.5 percent of the stock in the reorganized Avaya in return for transferring obligations for the salaried plan to the PBGC, according to court documents.

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Samson Resources II LLC has agreed to sell its assets in East Texas and North Louisiana to an affiliate of Houston-based Rockcliff Energy II LLC for $525 million, the Houston Business Journal reported yesterday. The deal, which is expected to close on Sept. 29, comes after Samson emerged from bankruptcy as the successor to Samson Resources Corp. on March 1. The company eliminated $4 billion of debt through the chapter 11 process. In May, Samson announced it tapped investment banks Jefferies LLC and Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. to sell all of the company’s East Texas and North Louisiana assets, which consist of about 210,000 net acres that produce about 90 million cubic feet per day. Read more. 

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SunEdison Inc. won final approval for a bankruptcy plan that will leave what was once the world’s largest renewable-energy firm as a shell of its former self, with nothing for shareholders whose investment at one point had been worth about $10 billion, Bloomberg reported yesterday. SunEdison, known for gobbling up other companies and expanding at breakneck speed, will now exit chapter 11 to “continue business operations to administer and maximize the value of the company’s remaining assets,” including intellectual property and fixtures. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein’s approval of the reorganization plan came as he overruled remaining objections from shareholders as well as two investors who had opposed the company’s exit financing. He noted that many shareholders had emailed him to object to the plan, and that he would issue a written ruling explaining his decision to approve the reorganization in despite of their protests. Judge Bernstein said there was no evidence of bad faith in the negotiation of exit financing, as had been alleged by CNH Partners LLC and AQR Capital Management LLC, holders of second-lien debt. Left out of the exit financing, they had alleged that the company had essentially bought the votes of other second-lien creditors that had agreed to fund it in exchange for stock in the reorganized company. The case is In re SunEdison Inc., 16-10992, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York. The shareholder lawsuits are 16-02742, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

Paragon Offshore Ltd. announced yesterday that it has emerged from bankruptcy after completing a restructuring that eliminated $2.3 billion of debt, the Houston Business Journal reported yesterday. The successor company to Paragon Offshore PLC, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2016 with $2.96 billion of debt, also named a new board of directors. The search for a new CEO is underway. Following the restructuring, the new Paragon has about $165 million of available cash on its balance sheet and $85 million of new debt. Its new equity will not be listed on an exchange, and the company will not file any further reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Paragon PLC will be deregistered from the SEC. Read more. 

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Fifteen months after filing for chapter 11 protection, SH 130 Concession Co., the private entity that operates and maintains the 41-mile southern section of state Highway 130, announced in late June the new ownership, new senior management and $260 million in new financing, Engineering News-Record reported yesterday. Strategic Value Partners LLC is leading the new ownership group, while Louis Berger Services will operate and maintain the roadway. The new team replaces Spanish-owned Cintra and Zachry American Infrastructure, which, together, formed SH 130 in 2005 to develop and manage the roadway. They borrowed funds from a combination of U.S. and international banks, combined with a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan, explains Andy Bailey, the new CEO of the replacement concession. The partners put up equity and took on about $1.4 billion in debt to acquire rights of way, design the route and pay concessions. But income generated by tolls did not meet the original projections, which were established just before the Great Recession hit, Bailey explains. Toll rates along SH 130 have remained the same and were unaffected by the bankruptcy or restructuring. Those rates are set with the Texas Dept. of Transportation in the company’s Facility Concession Agreement, which still remains in place.