Nortel Networks Corp.’s U.S. and Canadian elements are awaiting word about their bid to steer a $4 billion intercompany cash dispute into the courts of their home countries over the protests of European divisions of the dissolving company, the Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. The money was raised in a global liquidation of the Toronto-based telecommunications-equipment maker, which foundered in 2009 and abandoned hope of getting back on its feet in the recession. Nortel U.S. and Nortel Canada say they need an assist from U.S.

Telecommunications-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp., in the process of liquidating its assets, has asked that an official retiree committee be named to negotiate over ending or modifying health-care benefits the company attempted to cut off last year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a filing Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Canada-based Nortel said it had spent $19 million on U.S. retiree and disability benefits since being thwarted by a July 2010 appeals court decision that said companies must talk to retirees before terminating their benefits.

Dish Network Corp. is threatening Blockbuster Canada with the loss of its use of the Blockbuster logo, as part of a strategy to acquire its assets, Blockbuster Canada Co. said, Bloomberg reported. Blockbuster’s U.S. business, acquired by Dish, has asked for bankruptcy court permission to end an agreement with the Canadian unit over trademarks, Grant Thornton Ltd., a receiver for the Canadian assets said in court papers filed in Manhattan court today.

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.