Canada

Family-owned fashion retailer Boutique Jacob Inc. has applied to Quebec Superior Court for an order providing protection from creditors under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act, The Montreal Gazette reported. "We need time to restructure our activities in an orderly manner in the best long-term interest of the company itself, its 2,000 employees, suppliers, creditors, customers and other partners," Joey Basmaji, president of the Montreal-based national chain, said in a statement. He said the company will operate normally and all Jacob stores across the country will remain open.

Nortel Networks Corp said Genband Inc was looking to "drastically and improperly" reduce its offer price for a Nortel business unit which it agreed to buy in December 2009, Reuters reported. Nortel has also sued Nokia Siemens Networks for failing to pay for certain trial equipment, according to court papers filed on Thursday.

The long and troubled history of the Vancouver Olympic village took another severe turn Wednesday when Millennium Water, the owners of the village, entered into receivership, The Vancouver Sun reported. Under a deal worked out between the city of Vancouver and Millennium Water, Ernst & Young Inc. was appointed as the receiver for the company. The firm will assume control of Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties and the Millennium Water development, the city said in a news advisory.

Insolvent Nortel Networks Corp. has reported a net loss of $649 million in the third quarter, compared to a $508 million loss a year earlier, as it booked numerous charges, the Canadian Press reported. The former Canadian high-tech giant said it booked $529 million in reorganization costs in the three months ended Sept. 30. The results also included $490 million in non-cash charges related to liabilities for its Canadian defined benefit pension plans.

Affiliates of Credit Suisse Group and Willowridge Partners are buying Nortel Networks Corp.'s stakes in 20 venture-capital funds, according to a court filing Thursday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Affiliates of Credit Suisse's alternative-investments group and Willowridge won the bidding for Nortel's venture-capital investments with an offer of nearly $23 million, court papers say. Because the venture-capital interests were already exposed to a competitive sale process, Nortel is asking the U.S.

Canada's Davie Yards reports that it has obtained an order from the Quebec Superior Court extending the stay of proceedings ordered by the court under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act to January 21, 2011, MarineLog reported. The shipbuilder says the extension will allow it to continue discussions with potential industrial investors, to pursue its efforts to qualify for the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy , and to develop and eventually submit a plan of arrangement to its creditors under the CCAA.

In the spacious quarters once occupied by CanWest scion Leonard Asper sits affable executive Paul Robertson, finally ready to begin his duties at the helm of Shaw Media, The Globe and Mail reported. It’s the final culmination of a process that started just over a year ago, when CanWest’s TV assets entered restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, unable to overcome a crushing debt load. On Wednesday, the broadcasting business emerged from creditor protection under new owners Shaw Communications.

Cable company Shaw Communications can proceed with its C$2 billion ($1.94 billion) purchase of the television assets of distressed media company Canwest Global, Canada's telecom and broadcaster regulator said on Friday, Reuters reported. "We are satisfied that this transaction will generate substantial benefits for the Canadian broadcasting system," Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said in a statement.

Bernard Callebaut's bid to keep his company has failed. The high-end chocolate business that bears his name went into receivership in August, with ATB Financial claiming Callebaut owed close to $4 million, CBC News reported. Receiver Deloitte and Touche recommended last week that the company's assets be sold to a numbered company backed by former Callebaut vice-president of operations Brian Beck and a dealer with three stores in Edmonton. Callebaut and his lawyers contested that bid Wednesday, but on Thursday a judge rejected Callebaut's attempt to buy the business back.

Nortel Networks Corp, the fallen Canadian telecom giant, said on Tuesday it is selling its sprawling Ottawa campus to the Canadian government for C$208 million ($202 million), Reuters reported. Nortel, once North America's biggest telecommunications equipment maker, said the sale is expected to close at the end of the year. The 370 acres of land and its 11 interconnected buildings had been a proud symbol of the company's dominance in its field and of Canada's technical prowess.