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Energy Future Holdings Corp., which owns the largest power network in Texas, received court approval on Friday to confirm its plan to exit bankruptcy and be acquired by NextEra Energy Inc. in a deal valued at around $18 billion, Reuters reported on Friday. Approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas is required for the purchase of Energy Future's power distribution business, known as Oncor. A decision is expected in the coming months. The commission last year scuttled a proposed acquisition of Oncor by Hunt Consolidated Inc. of Texas. Energy Future said on Feb. 14 that it had resolved the last main disputes to its plan of reorganization, when its noteholders reached an agreement to modify what they were owed. 

A federal judge has discharged rapper 50 Cent's bankruptcy case after he paid more than $22 million, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Ann Nevins approved the discharge Thursday in Hartford, Connecticut. The rapper who burst onto the music scene in 2003 with his debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin," filed for chapter 11 reorganization in 2015, citing debts of $36 million and assets of less than $20 million. Nevins approved a plan in July calling for 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, to pay back about $23 million. Jackson's lawyers said yesterday that he paid off the five-year plan early with $8.7 million of his own money and $13.65 million he received in a recent settlement of a legal malpractice lawsuit against other attorneys.

Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest private-sector coal miner, can begin seeking creditor votes for a plan to cut $5 billion of debt and exit its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a U.S. bankruptcy judge said yesterday, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Barry Schermer overruled objections from opponents including state regulators, shareholders, environmental activists and even former executives. Their complaints can still be debated at a confirmation trial on March 16. Peabody has said that it hopes to emerge from its $8 billion bankruptcy in April with a plan that will raise what lawyers called "a monster" $1.5 billion in private capital and leave it with under $2 billion of debt. Judge Schermer also approved the private capital raising over objections regarding some terms of the offering, including large fees to be awarded to certain creditors as part of the deal. Peabody's biggest creditors support the plan, which the company defended in court over competing proposals by a small group of creditors that would see Peabody exit bankruptcy with about $2.4 billion of debt.

A U.S. judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Linn Energy LLC said yesterday that he is prepared to confirm its restructuring plan with slight tweaks, backing the oil-and-gas producer's goal of shedding $5.5 billion in debt and splitting into two companies, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones at the end of a hearing in Houston congratulated Linn's legal team and lawyers for working with its key stakeholders, noting that the company would have faced a hard time trying to restructure had they not agreed on the plan. Judge Jones added that he expects a final version of the plan to be filed with him by today. Linn filed for bankruptcy in May and had been negotiating with stakeholders in recent months on how best to split assets with its Berry Petroleum Co LLC subsidiary. In 2013, Linn acquired Berry for $4.3 billion, creating one of the largest independent energy producers. Under Linn's plan, Berry will become an independent company. Linn will shed nearly $4.3 billion of the roughly $6 billion in debt it had when it filed for bankruptcy. Berry will cut nearly $1.2 billion of its $1.7 billion in pre-petition debt. Read more. 

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Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar yesterday approved the restructuring plan for Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s operating unit, paving the way for the operator of the Caesars Palace Las Vegas and other casinos to emerge from chapter 11 protection later this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Judge Goldgar yesterday confirmed the chapter 11 reorganization plan for Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.(CEOC) two years after the casino operator sought court protection. The plan, which will cut CEOC’s $18 billion debt load by about $10 billion, is the culmination of hard-fought negotiations among the company, its creditors, parent Caesars Entertainment and the parent’s private-equity backers — Apollo Global Management and TPG. At the heart of the plan is a settlement of CEOC and its creditors’ legal claims against parent Caesars and its private-equity backers related to a series of disputed asset transfers in the months leading up to CEOC’s Jan. 15, 2015, bankruptcy filing. In return for settling the claims, which an independent investigator said could be worth up to $5.1 billion, Caesars and its owners will contribute more than $5 billion to the CEOC financial restructuring.