Canada

Many Blockbuster Canada stores are expected to close in the coming weeks and the rest will soon be put up for sale, the group overseeing the struggling chain’s receivership proceedings said Tuesday, the Toronto Sun reported. Grant Thornton Ltd., was appointed Blockbuster Canada Co.’s receiver earlier this month by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Some stores will be consolidated, but the majority of Blockbuster’s some 400 Canadian outlets will continue to operate as usual while Grant Thornton seeks potential buyers.

Karlsen Shipping Co. Ltd. was placed in receivership Tuesday and the Halifax tour operator’s prized cruise ship, M/V Polar Star, remains tied up in Spain until authorities on either side of the Atlantic can reach an agreement on its future, The Chronicle Herald reported. It took Justice Arthur LeBlanc only a few moments to grant a receivership request from the Toronto-Dominion Bank during a Nova Scotia Supreme Court proceeding prompted by the shipping company’s inability to settle a $1.4-million repair bill. Polar Star had a collision with an iceberg in the Antarctic in January.

Nortel Networks Corp. said Monday it has received court approval for a $900-million "stalking horse" bid by Google for the company's remaining patents and patent applications, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. Qualified bidders hoping to top the Google offer will be required to submit offers by June 13, while the auction is set for June 20. The winning bid will require approval by the U.S. and Canadian courts overseeing the sale process.

Nortel Networks Corp.'s European units are pressing more than $10 billion worth of claims against their Canadian parent, including a claim for $4.6 billion worth of damages for alleged mismanagement under French law, court documents say, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The intercompany claims were listed in a report filed publicly Thursday by Ernst & Young, monitor of Nortel's Canadian insolvency proceeding. The demands for payment from Nortel's European units are enough to double the size of the claims filed in the Canadian case, the report, filed with the U.S.

Nortel Networks Corp. is taking its multi-billion-dollar global intercompany cash fight public in June, the lead bankruptcy lawyer for the liquidating telecommunications company said Tuesday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Behind-the-scenes efforts have failed to resolve disputes over which part of Nortel gets how much of the nearly $4 billion being raised in the breakup of the company, so Nortel is turning to the courts in Canada and the U.S., said the attorney, James Bromley, who is with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Quebec-based forestry company Tembec Inc. is liquidating its U.S. subsidiary, nearly four years after shuttering its Louisiana coated paper mill, The Canadian Press reported. Tembec USA, a division of the company that no longer has any operating assets, has applied to a U.S. bankruptcy court for Chapter 7 protection, Tembec announced Monday. Unlike Chapter 11, this section is designed for companies seeking liquidation rather than restructuring. Tembec said its U.S. division has US$81 million in debt and assets worth $1 million.

A recent court decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal to award pensioners from Indalex Ltd. secured creditor status in a CCAA restructuring has tongues wagging in financing circles on Bay Street, the Financial Post reported. Newton Glassman, founder and managing partner at Catalyst Capital Group Inc., is among the more vocal. Catalyst, the leading lender to distressed companies in Canada, is preparing to seek intervenor status when Indalex seeks leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. If the high court grants an audience, Catalyst wants a seat. Mr.

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused Scanwood Canada’s pleas for more time for protection from its creditors and placed it in receivership. Scanwood made nearly one million chests of drawers every year for IKEA, its only customer. The recession hurt sales, and the business owed nearly $24 million. The company had been under creditor protection for two months. A bid from a new group of investors fell through and unionized workers refused to make further concessions.

The mediation process related to the allocation of proceeds from the sale of Nortel Networks Corp.'s various assets has ended "without resolution," potentially delaying distributions to claimholders, Nortel said Wednesday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Canadian company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2009 and has been shedding its assets in bankruptcy court, said delays in resolving allocation and intercompany claims matters "could be significant." The former telecommunications giant didn't elaborate on the latest developments in the mediation process.

Google Inc. has been selected as the stalking-horse bidder for the entire patent portfolio of former telecommunications giant Nortel Networks Corp., administrators for the insolvent Canadian company said Monday, the Financial Post reported. Mountain View, California-based Google has entered a bid of US$900-million for a portfolio of more than 6,000 patents that cover device and network technologies. Google’s stalking-horse offer is designed to attract higher bids from other interested groups, which could include BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. An auction is slated for June.