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A federal judge in Delaware is scheduled to hear arguments over how to split up some $7 billion Nortel raised from the sale of its patents and other assets, which has pitted U.S. bondholders against creditors of the Canadian parent company and U.K. pensioners who say they’re owed $3 billion to shore up their underfunded plans, Forbes.com reported today. The multinational bankruptcy proceedings will have amassed nearly $2 billion in legal fees to date. British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills appears to be the biggest winner, billing for some $400 million to advise Ernst & Young on the administration of Nortel’s European bankruptcy estate. Ernst & Young comes in second at around $335 million. The high fees reflect the vexing complexity of Nortel’s bankruptcy, which is taking place across three countries and two continents and features the increasingly common clash of bondholders against pensioners. In Nortel’s case the big unsecured creditor is the company’s U.K. pension plan, which administrators there claim is underfunded to the tune of $3 billion. Unfortunately for those pensioners, Nortel’s U.K. operations were dwarfed, in terms of revenue and earnings, by its U.S. business. According to one analysis the U.S. operation held 70 percent of Nortel’s patents — a key measure in a company whose assets are mostly intellectual property — and would get 73 percent of the bankruptcy assets on a pure revenue basis. The U.S. divisions also issued more than half of Nortel’s debt.

Television and radio station owner Casa Media Partners LLC is preparing to sell off some of its unused broadcasting airwaves at a government-run auction that begins next week after a bankruptcy judge approved that participation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. With his signature, Judge Robert Mark cleared Casa Media Partners to sell unused spectrum at the Federal Communications Commission’s multibillion-dollar auction that begins on March 29 and will likely take months to complete. During the sale, the government will buy broadcast television licenses, rearrange the airwaves and then sell licenses for cellular service, giving TV stations a way to cash out of an asset that is likely more valuable for wireless operators.

Security systems company SDI Solutions filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday, with a buyout offer from a company led by former Chief Executive David Gupta, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Gupta's PGV Solutions Midwest LLC bought secured debt of the privately held, Chicago-based SDI Solutions, to position to make a "credit bid" at a bankruptcy auction for the company, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. SDI Solutions operates in the security system and IT industry, and provides systems integration and managed services for more than 700 customers nationwide, including state and local governments, airports, port authorities, utilities, financial institutions and commercial enterprises. It employs about 152 people. The company blamed a decline in revenue due to the loss of key contracts, and less favorable terms on contracts it was able to hold on to, for the liquidity squeeze that prompted its bankruptcy filing.

Aspect Software, a provider of software systems and equipment for call centers, has filed bankruptcy so it can reduce a $795 million debt burden that has limited its ability to invest in next-generation products and services, CFO.com reported yesterday. Aspect said in its chapter 11 petition filed yesterday that a capital restructuring plan backed by its creditors would eliminate $320 million of second-lien debt and convert $60 million of first-lien debt into 100 percent of the reorganized company’s equity. Over the past three years, Aspect has invested $160 million in acquisitions, technology agreements and partnerships. It serves 2,200 call centers in more than 70 countries, generating annual sales of more than $400 million.

A bankruptcy judge approved GT Advanced's plan to exit chapter 11 protection, closing the book on the New Hampshire's manufacturer's case that began with a disastrous run-in with smartphone giant Apple Inc., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Henry J. Boroff on Tuesday signed off on GT Advanced’s exit from bankruptcy, which was triggered by the collapse of a supply deal with Apple Inc. Tapped as a supplier of scratch- and shatter-resistant sapphire screen material for Apple's smartphones, GT Advanced piled on debt and transformed its business operation. Apple rejected the material GT Advanced produced, for reasons that were disputed. GT Advanced resorted to bankruptcy in October 2014 to repair its tattered finances. The company is returning to its roots as a manufacturer of industrial equipment. It reached a settlement with Apple that resolves the smartphone giant's claim to be owed $439 million due to the failed sapphire supply venture.

Powa Technologies, an e-commerce startup valued at $2.7 billion just a few months ago, went bankrupt on Friday, CNNMoney.com reported yesterday. London-based Powa had been hailed as the crown jewel of British tech scene. Its CEO Dan Wagner boasted that Powa would become "the biggest tech firm in living memory." Powa created a mobile payment app and point of sale terminals for retailers. Wagner's goal was to create a payment system that would provide a "seamless experience across all purchase channels." In 2013, Powa secured what was then one of the biggest investments ever for a British startup. It raised $175 million in just a year and half, with Boston-based Wellington Management among the leading investors.

Carl Icahn is about to see something from his 15-year effort to revive XO Communications, which reached a deal to sell its fiber-optic network business to Verizon Communications Inc. for $1.8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The billionaire investor, who took control of the company after its 2002 bankruptcy filing, said that the deal “does not represent a significant annualized return on our investment.” Icahn started buying debt of network operator XO Communications in 2001, a year before the Internet bubble casualty ended up in bankruptcy. He ended up with control of the firm afterward as the company — and peers —– worked through the aftermath of building far more network capacity than was needed at the time. It’s been “a bumpy road” since XO emerged from bankruptcy in 2003, Icahn said. The Verizon deal represents “the best achievable outcome for the company’s customers, employees and owner” in today’s environment,” said Mr. Icahn, who in 2011 said he had spent more than a $1 billion buying XO preferred shares.