Canada

Canada’s top securities regulator ordered the founder and four former executives of bankrupt Chinese timber company Sino-Forest to pay 76.3 million Canadian dollars (US $58 million) in penalties and forfeited compensation for their role in what regulators say is one of the largest frauds in Canadian history, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Ontario Securities Commission ordered Allen Chan, the company’s founder and former CEO, to repay C$60.3 million of salary and bonuses earned before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Stephen Poloz can’t hold off raising interest rates any longer. Economists are predicting the Bank of Canada governor will resume tightening policy this Wednesday in what would be the first increase in borrowing costs since January, Bloomberg News reported. More hikes are set to follow as businesses warn of wage pressures and inflation remains above the central bank’s target. Poloz, however, is still unlikely to be in a hurry. There remains a long list of reasons for prudence, starting with the real possibility Canada gets into a trade war with its biggest trading partner.

Coupons on 525 million pounds ($701.40 million) of debt underpinned by retirement home operator Four Seasons will not be paid, the issuers of the notes said on Wednesday. The owners of Four Seasons recently agreed a deal with investment firm H/2 Capital Partners to restructure the group, transferring ownership to a new owner controlled by its creditors, Reuters reported. The boards of Elli Finance (UK) Plc and Elli Investments, the issuers of the notes, said their respective boards “have concluded that they will not be in a position to pay the coupons due under the Notes on 15 June 2018”.

The Bank of Canada has highlighted elevated household debt and imbalances within the nation’s real estate market as the two chief vulnerabilities to the financial system in the event of a recession, Bloomberg News reported. But what could trigger such a downturn? Macquarie Capital Markets offers one simple answer: the housing market itself -- highlighting that the share of employment tied to construction as well as finance, insurance and real estate is nearly two standard deviations above its long-term average.

The Bank of Canada is paying more attention to smaller lenders as an area of potential risk in the financial system, a shift that comes amid concerns about a national housing slowdown, The Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank said it is looking to broaden the scope of its in-house stress testing to include smaller financial institutions and mortgage insurers, at a time when tighter mortgage rules are helping to drive some of those lenders’ growth.

Sears Canada Inc. pension plan members are facing bleak prospects for getting their full pension payouts, according to a Toronto bankruptcy lawyer, Benefits Canada reported. “They won’t be made whole, regardless of how we look at this,” says Lou Brzezinski, a partner at Blaney McMurty LLP.

In a related story, the International New York Times reported that Canada's Fairfax Financial Holding has placed a bid of $300 million to buy Toys R Us's Canadian operations in bankruptcy. According to court papers filed late Thursday, the bidder is taking on a role of a "stalking horse" in a court-approved auction set for Monday in New York. That means it could be outbid in the auction if other buyers come in with a higher offer.

Scott Hannah says low borrowing costs and rising home prices have lured Canadians into a debt trap they may not escape if looming economic threats materialize, Bloomberg News reported. Hannah, president of the Credit Counselling Society, is seeing an influx of clients as higher financing costs begin to bite and people find it harder to manage. Phone calls were up 5.3 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, while online chats increased 40 percent.

An Ontario court has approved a restructuring plan for beleaguered junior Canadian gold company Banro Corp., paving the way for it to emerge from creditor protection, The Globe and Mail reported. Under the terms approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, holders of US$207.5-million in debt instruments and US$20-million in gold-forward agreements will swap their securities for equity in a revamped Banro. Additional obligations under gold-forward agreements worth US$30.9-million will be deferred for a number of years.

Discovery Air has been granted creditor protection under the federal Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, which means the company can stay in business and avoid bankruptcy. Protection is granted to companies with more than $5 million in debt, so they can work with their creditors to find a solution and restructure their businesses, CBC Canada reported. Discovery Air owes about $149 million in secured and unsecured debts as of January 31, according to court documents. Discovery Air is the parent company of three businesses: Great Slave Helicopters, Air Tindi and Discovery Mining Services Ltd.