Canada

Sears Canada on Friday won court approval to begin liquidating all its remaining assets starting Oct. 19, putting the retail chain with 12,000 employees on a path to closure after 65 years in the country. The approval was granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which also extended creditor protection for Sears Canada to Jan. 22, Reuters reported. The public liquidation sales are set to end on Jan. 21.

Sears Canada moved a step nearer to permanent closure after several attempts to find a buyer failed, with the retailer saying it will seek court approval on Friday to shutter its remaining 130 stores, leaving 12,000 employees without jobs, Reuters reported. The retail chain is the latest victim of a widespread shift in consumer behavior demanding more convenience and up-to-date fashions that has seen nimble online operators such as Amazon.com Inc. claw market share from bricks-and-mortar retailers that have clung to their traditional business models.

Sears Canada on Wednesday won court approval to extend credit protection by a month to Nov. 7, but its creditors set a deadline of this week to liquidate the retailers’ assets, leaving the company with mere days to decide its fate, Reuters reported. While the extension of creditor protection will keep its lenders at bay a bit longer, the new liquidation deadline means a deal with Executive Chairman Brandon Stranzl that would allow it to remain in business would still need to be reached by Saturday, Oct. 7.

Has billionaire Murray Edwards stepped in to prop up a troubled Canadian copper miner once more? That’s what investors and analysts are wondering after Imperial Metals Corp. won a second reprieve on its loans until Oct. 13 while bankers review a new financial rescue plan. Edwards, the company’s largest shareholder who has been involved since 1994, has previously helped bail out Imperial Metals by injecting capital, making a loan and guaranteeing a credit line, Bloomberg News reported.

Sears Canada Inc said late on Friday that it has asked a court to extend creditor protection that expires on Wednesday by another month so it can finish negotiating a deal that would keep the iconic brand running in Canada, Reuters reported. The company, which in 2012 was spun off from U.S. retailer Sears Holdings Corp, filed for creditor protection in June and laid out a restructuring plan that included cutting 2,900 jobs and closing roughly a quarter of its stores.

Canadian steel producer Stelco Holdings Inc, which emerged from bankruptcy protection three months ago, said on Wednesday it has filed a preliminary prospectus with securities regulators in Canada for a proposed initial public offering of its shares, Reuters reported. Stelco, which is owned by U.S. restructuring firm Bedrock Industries Group LLC, is seeking to raise US$150 million in the share sale and could have a market value of about US$1 billion, according to a source familiar with the situation.

It’s crunch time for Concordia International Corp. With the junk-rated Canadian drug-maker facing two October interest payments, pressure is building for it to reach a debt-restructuring agreement with key bondholders. S&P Global Ratings downgraded Concordia on Sept. 18, citing its "unsustainable" capital structure and forecasting a “highly probable” likelihood of a restructuring or distressed exchange, Bloomberg News reported.

Struggling retailer Sears Canada Inc’s top executive is negotiating a private-equity backed deal that could be valued at more than C$650 million ($533 million), citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on a Wall Street Journal story. The retailer’s Executive Chairman Brandon Stranzl last month stepped away from day-to-day operations to focus on plans for the company, which filed for creditor protection in June.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is prepared to inject as much as 5 billion rand ($386 million) to pay off bank debt owed by AfriSam Group Pty Ltd. and help South Africa’s second-biggest cement producer clinch a tie-up with larger rival PPC Ltd., according to two people familiar with the matter. The money from the African unit of the Canadian insurer will be used to repay bank loans and allow AfriSam to push through a new offer to PPC, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private, Bloomberg News reported.

Sears Canada Inc.’s top executive is preparing an offer to save the bankrupt company from liquidation, The Wall Street Journal reported. Executive Chairman Brandon Stranzl intends to submit an offer for Sears Canada that would preserve the company as a going concern, according to a Wednesday memorandum filed in its insolvency proceedings. The retailer filed for protection from creditors in June under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy.