With their store leases up for grabs, major Target Canada landlords are suggesting the insolvent discounter be pushed into all-out bankruptcy as a way to remove the retailer from controlling the lease sales and other wind-down proceedings, The Globe and Mail reported. The landlords’ Target leases could fetch $1.8-billion to $2-billion, according to one analyst. But under the current court-monitored insolvency process, the auctioning of their leases is essentially being run by the departing retailer.

An onerous transportation contract entered by Cliffs Natural Resources' Bloom Lake iron ore operation in Canada will be renegotiated under Bloom's creditor protection filing, Cliffs' chief executive said on Tuesday. Lourenco Goncalves said the contract with the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway that has Bloom Lake on the hook for $450 million has been stayed by a Quebec judge as part of Bloom Lake's filing last week in Canada. "It will be negotiated. When a contract is stayed it means it is no longer valid," Goncalves said in an interview.

Canadian miner SouthGobi Resources Ltd. said it could be forced into insolvency if a Mongolian court’s ruling that it evaded taxes isn’t reversed, the Financial Post reported. SouthGobi and three former employees were found guilty of the charge on Friday, ending a three-year investigation that’s been scrutinized for its impact on foreign investment and the nation’s treatment of overseas nationals. U.S.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. sought creditor protection in Canada for its Bloom Lake iron ore mine, potentially cutting the cost of closing it down, Bloomberg News reported. Bloom Lake General Partner Ltd. and certain affiliates started restructuring proceedings in Montreal under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Cliffs said in a statement on Tuesday. Cliffs, the largest U.S. iron ore producer, has been looking at options to sell Bloom Lake for several months and said earlier this month it suspended production there amid a slump in prices.

A group of Canadian and other investments banks agreed to pay a total of 32.5 million Canadian dollars (US$26.1 million) to settle claims related to their role as underwriters to help Sino-Forest Corp. sell stock, The Wall Street Journal reported. The dealers “do not admit any wrongdoing or liability” under the agreement, which would settle shareholder allegations that Sino-Forest’s public filings “contained false and misleading statements about [its] financial results, assets, business and transactions,” according to a copy of the pact filed with the Ontario Superior court.

Canadian wireless startup Mobilicity said on Tuesday it will participate in an upcoming government auction of airwaves. The struggling wireless carrier, which sought creditor protection in the fall of 2013, has been trying unsuccessfully to find a buyer for months after its attempts to sell to well-established rival Telus were stymied by the Canadian government, which is seeking to boost competition in the wireless sector.

Canadian oil exploration company Southern Pacific Resource Corp. has sought protection from creditors with an insolvency filing under Canada’s bankruptcy law, The Wall Street Journal reported. Southern Pacific Resource said Wednesday it determined that protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act was in its best interest, considering the world-wide low oil and gas prices and its own depressed levels of production. The company added that it has sufficient liquidity to last through its initial protection period in Canada, which expires Feb. 20.

Forecasting a major economic slowdown in the face of lower oil prices, the Bank of Canada unexpectedly cut its key lending rate on Wednesday, the International New York Times reported. The central bank reduced the overnight rate to 0.75 percent, from 1 percent. It is the first rate change since September 2010. The move comes as Canada deals with the consequences of lower oil prices, which are now around $48 a barrel. In recent weeks, domestic companies have announced a flurry of spending cuts and layoffs.

Target Corp will exit the Canadian market after less than two years in a surprise retreat that will throw more than 17,000 employees out of work and trigger a $5.4 billion quarterly loss. Shares of the U.S. discount retailer, which was granted creditor protection for its money-losing Canadian subsidiary, at one point rose more than 4 percent on the move. The stock was up 2.2 percent at $75.94 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Canada’s biggest banks are trying to quell investor concern about their exposures to the energy sector given the plunge in oil prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bank stocks have taken a beating on those worries with the S&P/TSX Composite Bank Index down about 8% year-to-date as of Wednesday afternoon, amid broader concerns about the potential impact on the Canadian economy of a prolonged slump in energy prices.