Canada

Alberta may consider buying back some of its bonds in an effort to smooth its maturities as its debt outstanding rises, Bloomberg News reported. The buy-back strategy, including terms and amounts, is still under analysis, according to Jerrica Goodwin, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman at Alberta’s finance ministry said. The plan, which may start as soon as the next fiscal year beginning in April, won’t reduce overall debt outstanding but could allow Alberta to spread out maturities over the longer term, she said.

Canada’s biggest banks are facing a storm of challenges, with a slowdown in consumer spending and a dearth of public listings pushing some big lenders to make hefty job cuts as their profitability falters, the Financial Times reported. The decision by Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canada’s fourth-largest bank, to slash its global workforce by 5 per cent highlights the growing problems facing the country’s financial services sector.

A surge in the number of people who can’t pay their debts is raising eyebrows in Canada, BNN Bloomberg reported. Some 11,935 consumers filed for insolvency in September, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy — a 19-per-cent increase from a year earlier and the biggest annual gain since 2009. So far in 2019, there have been 102,023 consumer insolvencies, the second-most for the first nine months of a year in records dating back to 1987.

Canada is on track this year to record the largest increase in consumer insolvency filings in a decade and the first increase in business insolvencies since 2001, says a national association of insolvency and restructuring professionals, Try-City News reported. The total number of Canadian insolvencies increased 8.4 per cent over the past 12 months to September, according to a report from the federal government's Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.

Tuesday was a day to forget for Prem Watsa, often referred to as Canada’s Warren Buffett. His Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. lost more than C$160 million ($121 million) just in his top five listed Canadian investments, according to the latest filings compiled by Bloomberg. BlackBerry’s abysmal fiscal second-quarter earnings, which saw one of its staunchest bulls join the bear camp, was the prime offender, Bloomberg News reported. The stock fell 23% on Tuesday and extended declines Wednesday to the lowest in six years. To add to the pressure, Fairfax owns BlackBerry convertible debentures.

CO2 Solutions Inc. ("CO2 Solutions" or the "'Corporation") announced today that it has filed a notice of intention to make a proposal (the "Notice") pursuant to the provisions of Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada), Yahoo! Finance reported. Pursuant to the Notice, Ernst and Young Inc. ("E&Y") has been appointed as trustee and will assist CO2 Solutions in its restructuring efforts.

Avaya Holdings Corp. is considering a bid from rival Mitel Networks that could create a telecommunications equipment vendor worth more than $5 billion including debt, people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reported. The shares surged. Closely held Mitel submitted an offer for Avaya that it believes would value the combined business at more than $20 per share, according to the people. The companies have held on-and-off discussions about a potential deal since April, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the world’s largest retirement funds, plans to start a credit arm in India, seizing on a moment when the country’s troubled financial system is starved of capital, the Financial Times reported. CPPIB is putting together a credit strategy for India, international investment head Alain Carrier told the Financial Times, which could see the C$392bn ($297bn) fund build on its Indian real estate and infrastructure investments by partnering with non-bank providers to offer debt or enter the market directly.  “This is something