Next Week in Bankruptcy

Lawyers who put oil and gas company Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. into bankruptcy in December will try to convince a Delaware judge on Thursday that the company is ready to leave chapter 11 protection.

Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., is scheduled to look over a bankruptcy-exit plan for the 350-worker Irving, Texas, company—one of dozens of energy companies whose finances were upended by the oil price collapse.

The plan calls on lenders and bondholders to swap some $1 billion in debt for most, if not all, of the new common stock in the restructured company. It would also repay a portion of unsecured creditors’ claims, which could top $200 million, in either cash or equity. Current equity would be canceled, and shareholders of the publicly traded company wouldn’t receive any compensation under the plan.

Throughout 2015, Magnum Hunter had been aggressively looking to sell assets, including its gas-gathering system and a portion of its undeveloped acreage, to raise liquidity.

On Wednesday, a judge could clear oil and gas driller Swift Energy Co. to get out of bankruptcy with a plan to swap out $905 million in bond debt for most of the equity of its Houston operations.

Judge Mary F. Walrath is scheduled to look over the company’s bankruptcy-exit plan, which also allocates a 4% equity stake in the post-bankruptcy company to existing shareholders.

Swift Energy officials said in documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that it will focus on its core operations in the Eagle Ford Shale formation in South Texas. Judge Walrath cleared Swift Energy officials earlier this year to sell the majority of its oil and gas assets in Louisiana—the second state where it drilled—to Texegy LLC for $48.75 million in a deal that covered 75% of Swift’s working assets.

The Houston company filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 31 with a $1.2 billion-plus debt load.

On Tuesday, Illinois retirement community Park Place of Elmhurst will ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to leave chapter 11 protection with a new borrowing agreement with municipal bondholders.

Judge Jacqueline P. Cox is scheduled to look over the bankruptcy-exit plan for the retirement community, which has struggled to find residents to move in since opening in 2012.

Officials who put Park Place into chapter 11 protection on Jan. 17 said the retirement community, which has 284 homes that range from independent living units to skilled nursing beds, was only about 85% full at the time of the filing.

In earlier documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, Chief Financial Officer William DeYoung blamed the real-estate crisis in 2008, which has made it tough for prospective residents to sell their home and move in. Many residents use money from their home’s sale to pay for the Park Place’s entrance fees, which range from $227,500 to $899,000, according to court documents.

The occupancy rate made it tough for the 223-worker retirement community to fully repay investors who bought roughly $146 million in bonds used to build the complex.

The nonprofit retirement community’s campus, located on about 12 acres of land, was built with municipal bonds extended through the Illinois Finance Authority that were designed to attract investors with tax breaks.

Under a repayment deal filed at the time of the bankruptcy, the investors have agreed to get new bonds and to be paid under a different timeline.

-Jacqueline Palank, Peg Brickley and Lillian Rizzo contributed to this article.

Write to Katy Stech @[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech