Canada

Hart Stores Inc. has obtained an initial order for court protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, CanadianBusiness.com reported on a Canadian Press story. The company, which owns mid-sized department stores throughout Eastern Canada, said that the move will allow its locations to operate while it restructures. Hart Stores received approval from the Quebec Superior Court for protection under CCAA until Sept. 29, though extensions could be granted. RSM Richter Inc. was appointed as the monitor.

BDO Canada Ltd. has acquired KPMG's consumer insolvency practice for an undisclosed price, making it one of the country's largest providers of such bankruptcy and credit counselling services, The Globe and Mail reported on a Canadian Press story. The integrated services — which offer trustees in consumer bankruptcy, proposal administrators and credit counsellors — began operating under the BDO Canada Ltd. name effective last Friday. BDO is the fifth-largest single national accounting and advisory partnership in Canada.

Further clarity emerged this week as to what regulators will require from banks to make bank capital instruments compliant under Basel 3 when Canada released its rules on non-viability contingent capital, Reuters reported. However, while the release provided clues on how regulators will define non-viability, the implications for Europe are not obvious while current market conditions would make any issuance extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Changing demographics, increasingly vocal retirees, and the prospect of more companies finding themselves in trouble have all combined to create more interest than ever in pension law, a leading practitioner said this morning, the Canadian Lawyer Legal Feeds blog reported. “I have often marvelled myself at the interest in pension law,” Andrew Hatnay of Toronto’s Koskie Minsky LLP said at the Canadian Bar Association conference in Halifax.

Nortel Networks Corp., which has been selling off all of its businesses under court protection from creditors, said Thursday it lost US$115 million in its latest quarter, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. The former telecom hardware maker, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said the loss amounted to 23 cents per share in the quarter ended June 30 compared with a loss of $1.6 billion or $3.22 per share a year ago. Revenue totalled $1 million for the quarter compared with $145 million in the second quarter of 2010.

A receiver continues to manage the affairs of a British Columbia-based street light technology company that received $1.5 million in investments from city-owned Hydro Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Streetlight Intelligence Inc., a Victoria-based company that made energy-saving automated dimmer switches for street lights, went into receivership in May.

China's largest offshore oil and gas producer plans to spend $2.1 billion US buying Opti Canada Inc. in a move expected to inject cash into the troubled Long Lake oilsands project, in which the beleaguered Calgary firm has a stake, the Calgary Herald reported. The deal announced by state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.

The Canadian government ruled Tuesday its rules governing foreign investment don't apply in the $4.5 billion sale of patents belonging to Nortel Networks Corp, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a statement, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the acquisition of 6,000 patents by a consortium primarily of giant foreign technology companies led by Apple Inc. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson didn't trigger a government review because the book value of the assets was less than the C$312 million ($325 million) threshold established under Canadian law.

A court has delayed a hearing that will decide whether Blockbuster Canada can legally use the brand name as it goes through receivership, The Canadian Press reported. The hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, but has been bumped to July 26 in a New York City court. The new owner of Blockbuster USA, which did not buy Blockbuster Canada, says it does not want the Canadian retailer to use the name. The receiver in charge of selling Blockbuster Canada has argued that stripping the chain of that right would "devastate" business.

Oil-sands developer OPTI Canada Inc. on Wednesday sought creditor protection in Canada after its senior bondholders agreed to a debt-for-equity swap, as the company struggles to speed up its Long Lake development project, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. OPTI, which would have had to pay $71 million in interest by Friday to avoid default on two bonds, said in a Wednesday release that holders of both its 8.25% and 7.875% second-lien bonds have agreed to convert all those bonds into equity in a reorganized OPTI.