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.

The latest figures show that Alberta's insolvency rate has climbed dramatically since a year ago compared to the national rate, CBC News reported. The total number of insolvencies — bankruptcies and consumer proposals — filed by individuals increased 52.8 per cent from April 2015 to April 2016 in Alberta, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. Across the country, the number of insolvencies was up 4.9 per cent over the same period.

Buoyed by an improving steel market, Essar Steel Algoma is now hinting it may be healthy enough to emerge from insolvency protection without a new buyer or outside investment, SooToday.com reported. In addition to reviewing bids from prospective purchasers, company officials "have been evaluating other potential restructuring alternatives, including a potential replacement [debtor-in-possession financing] and a standalone restructuring plan," Rajat Marwah, Essar Algoma’s chief financial officer, said in a sworn affidavit.

In a sign of the scramble it’s become to secure financing in Canada’s energy patch, lenders are revising one company’s debt repayment deadline daily, Bloomberg News reported. For the third straight day, Twin Butte Energy Ltd.’s bankers on Thursday agreed to extend the deadline to repay a C$85 million ($65 million) loan and ability to access its C$140 million existing revolving credit line, the company said in a statement.

A junior oil and gas company in Calgary is blaming an order aimed at protecting a rare Prairie bird for its insolvency, CTV News reported. LGX Oil + Gas says its daily operations and drilling plans were significantly disrupted when an emergency order under the federal Species At Risk Act took effect in February 2014 to protect the greater sage-grouse. The company's Manyberries oilfields in Alberta were subject to that order.

Lawyers in Canada's energy capital Calgary warned on Friday that a judge's decision to grant lenders priority over environmental clean-up costs in oil and gas bankruptcies could lead to a surge in orphaned wells in Alberta, Reuters reported. An Alberta chief justice ruled this week that proceeds from the sale of assets belonging to junior producer Redwater Energy Corp will go first to secured creditors, rather than towards cleaning up the company's inactive oil and gas wells.

Hudson's Bay Co. of Canada will expand in Europe by taking over 20 department stores in the Netherlands, it said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. It is in the final stage of talks about leasing prime locations of the oldest Dutch department store chain V&D, which went bankrupt in December. The Canadian company reported retail sales of C$4.49 billion in its most recent quarter, up from C$2.63 billion a year earlier, helped by its 2.8 billion euro acquisition of German department store operator Kaufhof.

Junior oil sands producer Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd filed for protection from creditors at an Alberta court on Monday, making it the latest Canadian victim of the two-year slump in global crude prices, Reuters reported. The Calgary-based company said depressed oil prices and difficulties accessing capital markets had prompted directors to seek protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).