Canada

AbitibiBowater Inc. has struck a new deal with its main union that a labour leader says will help it stave off collapse as it prepares to file a plan by the end of the month to vault out of bankruptcy protection, The Vancouver Sun reported. The insolvent paper giant, which has been under creditor protection since last April, agreed to a tentative work agreement covering 8,000 workers with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada following arduous negotiations, the union said Sunday.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. should match its parent company and reinstate some of the 240 dealerships that were terminated last year when the auto maker was struggling to stay out of bankruptcy protection in Canada, the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) says, the Globe and Mail reported. General Motors Co. offered Friday to permit as many as 660 of the 2,000 U.S. dealers it terminated last year to set up shop again and its Canadian unit should follow suit, says CADA, which represents a total of about 3,000 new vehicle dealers in Canada.

The owner of a British Columbia newspaper group has joined the bidding for bankrupt Canwest Global Communications Corp's newspaper assets, Reuters reported on a Globe and Mail story. The bid from David Black, founder of Black Press Ltd, will compete with offers from at least six other bidders for publications including Canwest's flagship National Post, the Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette, the Globe report said. Platinum Equity LLC, a California private equity firm, is the most likely backer of Black's bid, the Globe reported, citing unnamed sources.

New Brunswick's finance minister is cautiously optimistic that a rescue plan can be found for the Atcon group of companies, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. Greg Byrne says he is pleased a court-appointed monitor has been given two weeks to seek a solution to keep the Miramichi-based companies afloat. Scotiabank is seeking creditor protection for three of the Atcon group of companies and a receiver for the rest, but on Monday a judge appointed Ernst and Young Inc. to determine how, or if, the companies can be restructured or sold.

Courts in Canada and the United States have rebuffed a British pension regulator's attempt to drag Nortel Networks Corp. into a separate legal battle in the United Kingdom over a multibillion-dollar claim, a Nortel lawyer said, allowing the company to focus on the liquidation of its global assets, The Globe and Mail reported. The British Pensions Regulator had been trying to argue a $3.4-billion claim on behalf of Nortel's 40,000-plus pensioners in the U.K., where Nortel's collapse triggered a pension crisis.

A Gatineau newsprint mill followed its owner into bankruptcy protection Wednesday, the latest victim of hard times in the newspaper industry, The Ottawa Citizen reported. Papier Masson is one of three mills in Quebec and another in Virginia affected by the decision of White Birch Paper, the parent company, to seek protection from creditor suits in the U.S. and Canada. The Papier Masson mill, formerly owned by James Maclaren Industries and Noranda, had 195 employees when White Birch bought it in 2005.

Signature Aluminum Canada Inc. has until the end of the week to present a viable restructuring plan before its court-appointed stay of proceedings expires, opening the floodgates for creditors looking to force the struggling company into full-blown bankruptcy, American Metal Market reported.

Nortel Networks Corp. and units that filed for creditor protection in Canada have reached a settlement agreement on certain matters regarding former Canadian employees, including the company's Canadian registered pension plans, Dow Jones reported. Under the agreement, the former Canadian technology icon will continue to administer the pension plans until Sept. 30. After that date, the plans will be transitioned to a new administrator appointed by the Superintendent of Financial Services.

IT firm Zylog Systems today said it has acquired Canada-based consulting and engineering company Brainhunter for 35 million Canadian dollars (around Rs 150 crore), the Business Standard reported. "This acquisition is through Creditors Arrangement Act bidding process where Zylog emerged as the successful bidder," the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Brainhunter is into consulting and engineering services in Canada with major presence in government, telecom, BFSI, and oil & pipeline verticals.

An American-based multinational company interested in buying Grant Forest Products promises to keep the oriented strand board manufacturer operating, Northern News reported. Georgia-Pacific, owned by Koch Industries, signed an agreement to buy Grant Forest Product operations in Englehart, Earlton and South Carolina earlier this month. Grant Forest Products sought protection to restructure under the Companies' Creditors' Arrangement Act in June 2009.