Canada

Lawyers who advise companies on insolvency proceedings, lenders for emergency financing for companies seeking court protection while they are restructuring and pension matters are closely watching the outcome of Supreme Court of Canada’s hearing today of an appeal in what has become known as the Indalex case, The Gazette Moves Deals And Takes blog reported.

Catalyst Paper Corp, a Canadian paper and pulp producer under creditor protection, will attempt to sell its assets after a proposed restructuring plan failed to win the backing of its unsecured lenders, Reuters reported. The plan won overwhelming support from its secured lenders, but fell slightly short of the two-thirds backing it needed from unsecured lenders, the Richmond, British Columbia-based company said. The company was granted creditor protection in January, as it attempted to restructure its business.

Canada's largest securities regulator alleged Tuesday that Sino-Forest Corp. and certain former executives inflated timber purchases and sales, capping an 11-month investigation into the troubled forest-products company, The Wall Street Journal Deals & Deal Makers blog reported. The Ontario Securities Commission signaled last month it would file fraud allegations against the company, after issuing a so-called enforcement notice. A spokesman for Sino-Forest, which conducts most of its business in China, declined to comment.

Home developer Unity Builders Group is seeking creditor protection after betting too heavily on luxury homes and condos in Alberta and the United States, the Edmonton Journal reported. The Calgary-based business, known for its Greenboro brand among others, is $180 million in debt to lending agencies and banks, with almost 10 per cent of that amount owed to trades, according to an affidavit filed by company founder Robert Friesen.

Canada's largest airline Air Canada warned on Thursday that its first-quarter results would be hurt by a C$120 million charge related to the creditor protection filing of its former maintenance unit Aveos, Reuters reported. The airline, struggling for months amid wildcat strikes and a series of feuds with its unions, said it expects to report quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and aircraft rent of between C$170 million and C$180 million.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he will revamp oversight of the country's dominant mortgage insurer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., by handing over day-to-day supervision of its commercial activities to Canada's bank regulator, Dow Jones reported. Under changes outlined in legislation introduced Thursday, the federal finance minister will also obtain legislative and regulatory authority over CMHC's securitization program and any new commercial programs the housing agency wishes to launch.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has hired law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to work out a restructuring plan that could include selling assets, seeking joint ventures or licensing patents, people briefed on the matter said, Reuters reported. As part of the struggling Canadian smartphone maker's strategic review, the RIM board is discussing ways to boost revenue from its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and possibly opening up its proprietary network, the sources said.

Canada will pledge funds to the International Monetary Fund in the event countries outside the euro zone require a bailout, but it is of the view Europe has adequate resources to deal with its debt crisis, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday, Dow Jones reported. He said Europe should "step up to the plate" and "overwhelm" the issue with its own resources. Canada and the U.S. have declined to commit resources to the IMF "at this time," as the Fund has adequate resources to deal with any imminent requirements.

Three Sino-Forest Corp. executives were fired by the insolvent Chinese timber firm and the company’s co-founder and chief financial officer both resigned, in a prelude to formal allegations expected to be laid by the Ontario Securities Commission, The Globe and Mail reported. Allen Chan, the Hong Kong national who co-founded Sino-Forest two decades ago and helped build what was once the largest forestry company on the TSX, resigned as “founding chairman emeritus” and an employee, the company said in a statement. Mr.

Insolvent Nortel Networks Corp. has been granted a stay of proceedings until July under court surpervised creditor protection to allow the company to continue with its restructuring activities. The now defunct company said Friday that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted Nortel and its subsidiaries an extension under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act until July 31, CanadianBusiness.com reported on a Canadian Press story. Nortel's court protection has been extended several times.