Canada

Former UK employees of Nortel Networks, the insolvent Canadian telecoms firm, could receive up to two thirds of their long-deferred pension claims after the US and Canadian courts ruled that the company’s remaining assets should be equally divided among all the insolvent parts of the group. Accountancy firm PwC, a financial adviser to the trustees of the Nortel UK Pension Scheme since the company’s 2009 insolvency, said that the unprecedented joint ruling by the courts could set an example in future insolvency cases involving highly integrated multinational companies.

An operationally troubled thermal oilsands project in northern Alberta, built for nearly half a billion dollars, is to be shut down this summer while its insolvent owner tries to find a solution to its money woes, The Calgary Herald reported. Calgary-based Southern Pacific Resource Corp. said Thursday it will “hibernate” its STP-McKay facility by the end of July, turning off all of the equipment for up to three years while it looks for funding to get it going again. “We’re going to be shutting the plant completely but preserving it so that it can be started up again at a future date.

The Canadian and U.S. judges charged with dividing the $7.3 billion from the liquidation of Nortel Networks rejected proposals from former regional businesses and opted for a pro rata split of the money in long-awaited rulings on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Judges on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware and Ontario Superior Court of Justice held an unprecedented joint cross-border trial on the dispute, with the courtrooms linked by video. The legal battle has raged for years through numerous courts, chewing up more than $1 billion in fees for lawyers and other advisors.

U.S. Steel was able to extend its creditor protection deadline to the fall, although previous court filings suggest the restructuring will go beyond the new September deadline, CBC.ca reported. This is the third extension of U.S. Steel Canada's (USSC) bankruptcy protection for its operations north of the border in Hamilton and Nanticoke. The uncontested extension was signed by Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel Thursday.

U.S. Steel has issued a thinly veiled threat to shut down parts of its Canadian operations if its claim to be owed $2.2 billion by its struggling Canadian arm is not allowed, The Hamilton Spectator reported. In court documents filed this week, the company says objections to its claims threaten to slow the restructuring process it says must be complete by mid-summer if it is to avoid losing its critical auto contracts. At issue are objections by the Ontario government, the United Steelworkers, retirees and a former Stelco president to the parent company's claims.

Swamped by credit card debt, a growing number of seniors and those approaching retirement are filing for insolvency in Ontario, according to a new report released on Monday, The Toronto Star reported. Bankruptcy trustee firm Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc. reviewed data from nearly 6,000 personal insolvencies filed in 2013 and 2014. Three in 10 insolvencies were filed by debtors who were 50 or older, the report found. That’s up from 27 per cent in the firm’s previous study, published in 2013.

Target’s exodus from Canada has left gaping holes at some of the most prominent shopping centers across the country, the biggest symbol of an exceptional period of retailing turmoil, the International New York Times reported. As Target Canada closed the last of its 133 stores this month — completing the parent company’s hasty retreat from its first international expansion, a move that prompted a $4.5 billion write-down — many landlords were left holding properties whose fates are uncertain.

Canadian oil and gas producer Calvalley Petroleum Inc said on Thursday it will liquidate and restructure due to the political crisis in Yemen, where it has almost all of its operations, Reuters reported. The Calgary-based junior has a 50 percent working interest in a block in Yemen's Sayun-Masila Basin, producing 3,700 barrels per day gross, but was forced to shut down production on Tuesday as conflict in the Middle Eastern country escalated. The block is owned by the Yemeni government.

Target Corp's Canadian unit said it would close the last of its 133 retail stores on April 12. The No. 2 U.S. discount chain said in January that it would exit Canada after struggling since its March 2013 launch, resulting in 17,000 employees losing their jobs and triggering a $5.1 billion quarterly charge. Target Canada's three distribution centers and Mississauga headquarters have been closed, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. "The court-approved real estate sales process is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of June 2015," Target Canada CEO Aaron Alt said.

Exall Energy, a tiny Calgary-based oil and gas company, went into receivership last week, sunk under the weight of its $34 million in bank debt, CBC.ca reported. But, the company failed to inform shareholders, or the Alberta Securities Commission, which issued a cease trade order only on March 30. "The cease trade order was issued after ASC staff determined that Exall Energy failed to disclose, in accordance with Alberta securities laws, that it had entered into receivership and that its board of directors had resigned," the ASC said in a release.