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Ambulance operator Rural/Metro Corp. yesterday won confirmation of a chapter 11 restructuring plan that puts the company into the hands of bondholders and cuts its debt load roughly in half, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey signed off on the bankruptcy emergence proposal for Rural/Metro, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of emergency response services and nonemergency medical transport for about 700 cities in 21 states. Bondholders raised $135 million to fund Rural/Metro's bankruptcy exit, Willkie Farr Gallagher LLP's Daniel Forman told Judge Carey at a hearing. The chapter 11 plan cuts Rural/Metro's funded debt by about 50 percent, slashing the annual interest payments the company must make, and improving its chances of staying on its feet financially.

Nortel Networks Inc., a defunct telecom company, has reached a deal that will cut more than $3 billion from what was allegedly owed to former Nortel entities in Europe, marking what it called a "significant milestone" to ending its five-year bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. In return for withdrawing the claims, administrators of insolvent Nortel entities in Europe and a pension trustee in Britain would each receive high-priority administrative claims for $37.5 million, according to a court filing yesterday. The parties also agreed to work together to try to resolve how to divide $7.5 billion in cash that was raised from liquidating the former Canadian telecommunications equipment maker, according to the documents.

Patriot Coal Corp. said it would emerge from chapter 11 protection today after months of wrangling with its unionized workforce and former parent Peabody Energy Corp over cost cuts, Reuters reported today. Patriot declared bankruptcy in July 2012, saying that it needed to cut $150 million a year in employment costs to return to profit. The company, which produces coal for both the steel and power industries, received court permission earlier this year to scrap collective bargaining agreements with its union and draw up new, cost-saving contracts.

Bank of New York Mellon should be ordered to return about $337 million to Sentinel Management Group Inc, a U.S. futures broker that went bankrupt in 2007, according to a court filing made by the bankruptcy trustee, Reuters reported today. Sentinel's bankruptcy trustee, Frederick Grede, alleged that the futures broker pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in customer assets to secure an overnight loan from Bank of New York Mellon, leaving the bank in a secured position but Sentinel's customers with losses worth millions. Sentinel largely managed money for other futures brokers, who are required to keep customers' funds in dedicated accounts to protect them from being used for anything other than client business. However, at Sentinel, customer funds were allegedly moved from the protected accounts to other accounts so that they could be used as collateral for a loan from Bank of New York Mellon.

A bankruptcy judge indicated yesterday that he would approve Physiotherapy Associates Inc.'s plan to emerge from its chapter 11 restructuring a little more than a month after filing for bankruptcy protection, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said that he was "in a position" to confirm the company's chapter 11 plan of reorganization, which slashes the company's debt by more than $230 million.

A judge cut the fees of financial adviser Capstone Advisory Group by about $1.57 million on Monday for its work on the bankruptcy of GSC Group Inc, saying it withheld information about a relationship with one of its contractors, Reuters reported yesterday. The ruling brings to a close a nearly year-long saga over how bankruptcy professionals handled GSC's insolvency and eventual sale to Black Diamond Capital Management. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman said that Capstone should have disclosed that Robert Manzo, the restructuring expert who helped sell and liquidate GSC's assets, was working as a contractor rather than a direct employee of Capstone. However, Judge Chapman said that the relationship itself, and the associated fee-sharing arrangements between Capstone and Manzo, did not violate bankruptcy rules, a blow to Black Diamond, which had accused Manzo of gross negligence.

Edison Mission Energy, which is hoping to move forward with a bankruptcy-exit plan that would see it sold to NRG Energy, faces an obstacle from its parent company, Edison International, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Edison International on Friday filed an objection to Edison Mission's disclosure statement, saying that the document is filled with a number of "deficiencies," especially when it comes to how Edison International will fare in the restructuring.

FriendFinder Networks Inc., the owner of Penthouse magazine and thousands of adult-oriented websites, won court approval of its reorganization plan after making changes that mollified a judge’s and regulators’ concerns, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi at a hearing yesterday accepted the restructuring plan after FriendFinder eliminated provisions that had caused him to withhold his blessing earlier in the day. The releases covered liability from lawsuits and other causes of action. Before the modifications were made, the judge had agreed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that releases being sought for officers from shareholders weren’t consensual and went “too far.”

Derek L. Limbocker, a onetime financial adviser, has sought protection from creditors in bankruptcy court, while he says he struggles to salvage his business and the 270,000 bottles of rare and valuable wine stored by financiers, high-powered litigators and real estate investors in his cellars in a West Chelsea warehouse, the New York Times reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber will hold a hearing today on whether to liquidate WineCare. The hearing will help shed light on what happened to the wines that WineCare stored in its temperature-controlled cellars, and why most of its clients still been unable to get their wine back.

EnCap Investment LP’s Robert Zorich has the bankruptcy court’s approval to complete his $1.7 million purchase of a large chunk of Alma Rosa Winery’s vineyards, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Although the winery is under new ownership, perhaps little about the pinot noir wines, made famous in the movie “Sideways,” will change. The deal plans for hall-of-fame winemaker Richard Sanford to continue producing wine on the property as an employee. The sale is still contingent on the approval of Sanford’s lender, Deutsche Bank National Trust, owed $2.6 million. The bank has filed a motion of no opposition, indicating it’s largely in favor of the deal.