Canada

Canada's national housing agency gave Maple Bank GmbH's Canadian branch the green light during a financial review, just one month before the federal banking watchdog seized the company's assets amid a German tax investigation, documents show. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request show that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reviewed Maple Bank GmbH's status as an issuer of mortgage-backed securities and a seller of Canada Mortgage Bonds in January 2016.

Canadian oil producer Pacific Exploration & Production Corp said on Wednesday it a majority of its creditors approved a restructuring plan, which will help it emerge from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The company had filed for creditor protection in Canada in April as it grappled with a prolonged slump in oil prices. Pacific Exploration said the restructuring plan was approved by 98.4 percent of the affected creditors including Catalyst Capital Group, which represented 97.2 percent in value of the eligible voting claims.

Tervita Corp., a Canadian provider of waste management services to the oil industry, plans to seek new credit after completing restructuring talks with lenders to slash its C$2.5 billion ($1.9 billion) worth of obligations, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which is using a 30-day grace period after skipping an interest payment on Monday, expects to be able to secure new lending after the restructuring thanks to its “good quality assets,” Vice President Ryan Wong said in an interview. The deal would involve converting some debt to equity, he said.

Just a year after its stock rocketed to an all-time high, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. looks like an entirely different company, The Wall Street Journal reported. About $80 billion of the Canadian drugmaker’s market value has been erased, as has its business model of acquiring drugs and raising their prices. Its former chief executive, Michael Pearson, has departed in favor of Joseph Papa.

Canada’s annual inflation rate rose in June, fueled by higher car and electricity prices, and increased costs associated with housing, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The all-items consumer-price index in June rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Friday, matching the previous month’s advance. June’s annual core-inflation rate—which excludes volatile components such as some food and energy prices—increased 2.1 percent. The latest reading marks the 21st time in a 24-month period that core consumer prices rose by 2 percent or more.

Low interest rates around the world are fueling a familiar threat of housing bubbles, and central bankers in a number of key economies feel powerless to stop them, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The problem is being acutely felt in Canada, where home prices are soaring even as the country’s energy- and mining-dependent economy slows. Sweden and Australia are dealing with similar surges in the value of homes, leading officials in all three countries to worry about the risk of a destabilizing bust.

Incensed Hamilton steelworkers are calling for a public inquiry into U.S. Steel Canada's bankruptcy protection process, CBC.ca reported. This is the latest move in a long fight the union has spearheaded while U.S. Steel Canada searches for a buyer. "Our retirees deserve to live in dignity and stop having to worry whether what they earned will be swindled from them," United Steelworkers 1005 president Gary Howe said in a statement.

Key stakeholders of Essar Steel Algoma Inc. are pursuing a multi-pronged effort to block the purchase of the steel maker by a New York-based private equity fund and a group of lenders, The Globe and Mail reported. Holders of Essar Algoma’s junior and senior notes, the United Steelworkers (USW) union and the port of Algoma are urging the Ontario Superior Court to halt a bid by KPS Capital Partners LP, which is seeking approval by the same court of a purchase agreement it has signed with the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based company.

The slumping oil market is taking a heavy toll on consumers in Canada, new federal statistics suggest, as personal insolvency filings spiked in energy-producing provinces over the past year, CBC.ca reported. Consumer insolvency filings were about five per cent higher in April 2016 than they were during the same month last year, according to a report recently released by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. The increase was led by huge spikes in Canada's major oil-producing provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Canada’s largest newspaper publisher is proposing a restructuring plan that would wipe out nearly half its debt and slash its annual interest payments, easing immediate financial pressure that threatened to turn the company insolvent, The Globe and Mail reported. Postmedia Network Canada Corp. outlined a planned recapitalization on Thursday that would eliminate more than $268-million (U.S.) in debt. In exchange, those creditors would receive 98 per cent of the company’s equity, all but eliminating the stake owned by existing shareholders.