%1

Hawker Beechcraft said yesterday that it has emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, calling itself "Beechcraft" and claiming that it is stronger and more financially stable, according to ArkansasBusiness.com. The company said that its reorganization plan had been approved by a bankruptcy court on Feb. 1 and became effective on Friday. Beechcraft says that it will focus on its profitable turboprop, piston, special mission and trainer/attack aircraft businesses. It said that it received $600 million in permanent financing, including a $425 million term loan facility and a $175 million revolving facility.

The owner of the struggling Revel casino in Atlantic City, N.J., is preparing to file for chapter 11 protection in the coming weeks, less than a year after the casino opened, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Revel AC Inc., which carries about $1.5 billion in debt, said yesterday that it has reached a deal with investment-firm lenders on a prearranged bankruptcy plan. It anticipates seeking chapter 11 protection as soon as mid-March, and the casino company is expected to continue paying employees and operate normally during the bankruptcy proceedings. Under the terms of the deal, Revel's creditors will forgive debt for ownership stakes in a restructured Revel, reducing the casino's obligations by more than $1 billion.

RDA Holding Co., publisher of Reader's Digest magazine, won interim court approval to borrow $11 million while it restructures in bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain approved the interim financing at a hearing yesterday. The company will return to court to seek approval of the remainder of the $45 million loan arranged by Wells Fargo Principal Lending LLC as administrative agent.

Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Stong Metro Fuel Oil Corp. received bankruptcy court approval to sell its assets to United Refining Energy Corp. for $27 million, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The approval will allow the sale to close within two weeks, prior to the maturity of its bankruptcy financing on March 11. The deal with United Refining includes the cash payment and a commitment to hire at least 75 percent of Metro Fuel's workers. (Subscription required.)

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. set its third payment to creditors for April 4 after getting a judge’s approval to abandon a previously fixed schedule for returning money, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The record date for the latest payment to holders of claims against the defunct investment bank is Feb. 23, Lehman said in a court filing on Feb. 15. It did not say how much it would pay out. Lehman, which is still liquidating and trying to cut claims after exiting bankruptcy court protection last year, has so far paid creditors about 9 cents on the dollar, or half of what it expects to pay by about 2016. It said in December that it raised $3.9 billion for creditors in the quarter ended Sept. 30 and another $1.6 billion in October and November, while its $6.5 billion sale of apartment owner Archstone was due to close by March 26.

U.S. power company Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU Corp., said that it could go into bankruptcy, liquidation or insolvency if lenders or noteholders accelerated repayment of all borrowings, Reuters reported today. "If lenders or noteholders accelerate the repayment of all borrowings, we would likely not have sufficient assets and funds to repay those borrowings," Energy Future Holdings said under the risk factors section of a regulatory filing today. The company in January extended the maturity date of a $16.5 billion term loan to 2017 from 2014. It has also exchanged debt on which it owed cash payments for debt on which interest payments could be deferred.

Almost a dozen large law firms have landed lead advisory roles on the proposed $11 billion merger of American Airlines parent AMR and US Airways Group, according to Am Law Daily on Friday. Thursday's announcement that the two companies have agreed to merge follows months of negotiations that began when US Airways started circling its insolvent rival last year. The AMR bankruptcy, which began when the carrier filed for chapter 11 in November 2011, has already generated millions in legal fees for a variety of firms. AMR alone is paying at least 20 law firms—including the now-defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf—and navigating the looming regulatory approval process is likely to fatten at least some of those firms' coffers even more. Weil, Gotshal & Manges is serving as lead bankruptcy and deal counsel to longtime client AMR through corporate and M&A partners Thomas Roberts and Glenn West—the managing partner of the firm's Dallas office—and business finance and restructuring partners Stephen Karotkin and Alfredo Perez.

Two weeks before a judge decides whether to confirm the bankruptcy plan of Dewey & LeBoeuf, several of the law firm's former partners have objected to the proposal and accused former management of fraudulent conduct, the New York Times DealBook blog reported on Friday. Six one-time Dewey partners filed legal papers this week urging a judge to reject the plan, which outlines how the defunct firm intends to pay back its creditors. A hearing before Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn is scheduled for Feb. 27.

The U.S. regional-airline industry could be set for more consolidation in the wake of deal-making among network carriers, according to the head of AMR Corp.'s American Eagle commuter unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. A long-planned spinoff of American Eagle also remains a possibility even after the planned merger of American Airlines parent AMR and US Airways Group Inc., though Eagle Chief Executive Dan Garton said that the initial priorities are developing a new aircraft-fleet plan and exploring how the partners' regional operations can be "blended." Regional airlines are the backbone of the U.S. domestic-airline industry, expanding rapidly over the past two decades to account for just over half of all passengers, feeding them to big hubs such as Chicago O'Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth from smaller airports. American Eagle is the largest regional carrier wholly owned by a U.S. network airline, and last year it accounted for 95 percent of the domestic passengers fed onto American's flights.

A class-action lawsuit alleging labor violations has been filed on behalf of the 250 individuals laid off from Hollywood visual effects company Rhythm & Hues last week, the Hollywood Reporter reported on Friday. Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues filed for chapter 11 protection on Feb. 13. The workers' lawsuit cites the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act as requiring 60 days written notice for those terminated without cause as the result of mass layoffs or plant closings. The workers were employed at the company's facility in El Segundo, Calif. The plaintiffs are seeking their unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued vacation and holiday pay, pension and 401(k) contributions.