D&M Publishers has announced that it is restructuring and has filed for creditor protection under the provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The Vancouver-based publisher, which publishes under three separate imprints including Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone Books and New Society Publishers, says it will be working with financial advisory services company the Bowra Group to locate an investor or purchaser for its assets, The Globe and Mail reported. New Society Publishers Inc. is a separate legal entity and its business activities will continue as usual.

Ontario has the greatest risk of defaulting on its debt payments in the next 20 years, while energy-rich Alberta places a surprisingly close second in a ranking of provinces seen as most vulnerable to suffering a Europe-style financial crisis, The Globe and Mail reported. “In the medium to long term, public finances in several provinces are unsustainable, raising the spectre of debt crises, damaged credit ratings and federal bailouts if corrective steps are not taken,” according to a report released Thursday by the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

An indirect subsidiary of financially troubled real estate company Homburg Invest Inc. has received US$24 million from the sale of some of its U.S. assets, The Gazette reported on a Canadian Press story. Homburg Invest, which is under creditor protection in Canada, said Monday that Homburg Holdings (U.S.) Inc. stands to make up to an additional US$1.5 million on the sale of holdings related to its joint venture arrangements with Cedar Realty Trust Inc. if certain conditions are met. Homburg said that on Oct.

Two Canadian pork processors are among those expressing interest in Canada's second-biggest hog producer, Big Sky Farms, which is looking for new ownership after soaring feed costs left it unable to pay its bills, the Regina Leader-Post reported. Big Sky, which produces about one million pigs per year and is based near Humboldt, entered receivership in early September. Manitoba-based hog producer Pu-ratone Corp. is also up for sale, after entering court protection from creditors last month. Both Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods and Quebec-based Olymel L.P.

Shareholders have been quietly shoved aside in the court-ordered restructuring of Sino-Forest Corp. — and they feel a lack of legal counsel is partly to blame, the Financial Post reported. Last week, veteran Bay Street lawyer Joe Groia agreed to take up the case of disgruntled Sino shareholders, who are furious about their treatment during the CCAA process. But he may be too late.

Troubled Chinese forestry company Sino-Forest Corp., which has been accused of being a massive fraud, said Thursday that its former chief financial officer David Horsley is no longer employed by the firm, The Canadian Press reported. Horsley, who stepped down as chief financial officer in April after receiving an enforcement notice from the Ontario Securities Commission, had continued to work at the company to help with its restructuring. No reason was given for his departure in the brief statement by Sino-Forest announcing the change.

Indebted miner Great Basin Gold on Thursday said it was to acquire a $35-million loan by order of the British Columbia Supreme Court, following its Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) filing made on Wednesday, MiningWeekly.com reported.

Canada's second-biggest hog producer, Big Sky Farms, has entered receivership as the North American hog industry struggles under the bruising costs of animal feed, Reuters reported. Big Sky Farms, based in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, produces roughly 1 million pigs annually and accounts for 40 percent of Saskatchewan's total hog production. Under receivership, an outside party controls a company until it can restructure its debt or be sold, said Neil Ketilson, general manager of Sask Pork, an industry group run by hog farmers.

Yellow Media Inc. can continue its transformation into a digital company now that a majority of debtholders and shareholders have approved a controversial plan to reduce its $1.8-billion debt, the directories publisher said Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported on a Canadian Press story. The Montreal company said it will put the debt restructuring plan in place by the end of this month, but added it’s still subject to a number of conditions, including final approval by the Quebec Superior Court.

Homburg Invest Inc. shareholders may not get a dime following the restructuring of the troubled Halifax-based real estate company, according to new documents, The Chronicle Herald reported. Last October, the debt-plagued company went to court to obtain protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, while Deloitte, the court-appointed monitor, restructured its affairs. The company’s management discussion and analysis sheds some light on what a restructuring means to Homburg and its investors.