Bonds of Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings headed for the biggest weekly decline in three months as the power company reportedly hired attorneys to handle a restructuring of debt from the largest leveraged buyout in history.
The company's 10.25 percent senior bonds due in November 2015 fell 3.2 cents since Feb. 1 to 24.8 cents, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The notes, which are redeemable by the company in a month's time, are poised for the biggest weekly drop since Nov. 2, when they fell 9.2 cents.The former TXU, taken private in 2007 by KKR & Co., TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs, has $47.2 billion of debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. EFH.hired the Kirkland & Ellis law firm to help restructure its debt load, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The company has struggled to be profitable ever since the LBO, as the shale revolution created a glut of natural gas, pushing U.S. prices the lowest since 1999. It has posted seven consecutive quarterly losses and had $37.4 billion of long-term borrowings as of Sept. 30.Energy Future's 2012 net loss widened to $2.17 billion from $1.91 billion the previous year as revenue fell, the company said in a Jan. 22 filing of preliminary results with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is due to publish fourth-quarter results on Feb. 15The 2012 loss doesn't include non-cash charges that may result from impairment to goodwill or intangible assets, the company said.EFH -- which oeprates the Luminant power generation business, TXU Energy retail electricity unit and Oncor transmission -- has sought to protect the profitable part of its company from a potential restructuring at its unregulated unit by paying off intercompany loans and extending and amending debt maturities amid a slump in electricity prices.Creditors agreed to exchange $1.37 billion of EFH bonds and amend rules governing its securities to shift liabilities, the company said on Jan. 9.Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said a year ago that his $2 billion investment in Energy Future in 2007 was at risk of being wiped out. He wrote down holdings related to the company for the past three years and has called the investment "a big mistake."Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
