The main unit of Mexicana on Tuesday warned it could face liquidation unless Mexico's largest airline was allowed to keep operating aircraft in the wake of its bankruptcy filing, Dow Jones reported. Compania Mexicana de Aviacion filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Mexico on Monday after failing to reach a new deal with its unions to cut costs after a period of rapid expansion. The airline continued to operate most flights Tuesday, but said in court filings that aircraft leasing companies and owners were taking steps to repossess planes.
A Kazakhstan bank's bid to use the U.S. bankruptcy court to halt an overseas legal proceeding could drag the court into disputes in which the U.S. itself has little at stake, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Kazakhstan's JSC BTA Bank says the U.S. bankruptcy court's decision to grant it Chapter 15 protection in the U.S. after it underwent restructuring in its home country last year extended a key benefit of U.S. bankruptcy law: the automatic stay that halts legal action against a debtor company.
Mexico's third-largest retail chain, Comercial Mexicana, aims to resume modest expansion next year with a handful of new stores once it completes its $1.54 billion pre-packaged debt-restructuring agreement, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Growth at Comercial Mexicana, which runs 231 stores and 73 restaurants, has been virtually on hold since October 2008 when blowout losses on foreign exchange derivatives - wrong-way bets on the Mexican peso - led to a debt default and the restructuring process, which is expected to be concluded within months.
A Mexican provider of tourism services at a beachfront hotel in Cozumel filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. Cozumel Caribe SA blamed its bankruptcy filing on the “drastic” drop in foreign tourists visiting the Hotel Park Royal Cozumel, from where the company operates.
Retailer Comercial Mexicana said Wednesday that it has submitted its prepackaged $1.54 billion debt-restructuring agreement to a Mexican court with 98% of its creditors on board, Dow Jones reported. Comercial Mexicana said in a press release that the restructuring agreement, which was announced in late May, has the support of all of its derivatives counterparties and bank creditors, and 88% of its bond creditors. The restructuring already has been approved by the company's shareholders. Under the agreement, the company will issue new debt in pesos and U.S.
Mexican retailer Comercial Mexicana said on Monday that its shareholders have approved a plan to restructure its debt, moving a step closer to the end of a lengthy battle with creditors, Reuters reported. The company, known by analysts as Comerci, is Mexico's No. 3 supermarket operator and defaulted on its obligations after its derivatives bets on the peso soured at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008. Last month, the company, which is controlled by insiders, reached a deal with creditors to pay back around $1.5 billion over seven years.
Australian education and childcare services provider A.B.C. Learning Centres Ltd filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court Wednesday, more than 18 months after the company went into administration in Australia, Reuters reported. The filing comes after an Arizona jury ruled against the company earlier this month in a lawsuit over certain development contracts and ordered it to pay more than $47 million in damages to RCS Capital Development LLC. The company filed under Chapter 15 of U.S. bankruptcy law, which deals with cases involving more than one country and allows U.S.
Paper and packaging firm Grant U.S. Holdings GP followed its Canadian parent into bankruptcy on Thursday, a day after the Canadian company won approval to sell some of its assets, court documents showed, Reuters reported. Grant U.S. Holdings, a unit of Canada's Grant Forest Products Inc, has listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $500 million to $1 billion, according to the Chapter 15 filing in a Delaware bankruptcy court.
Montreal-based toy maker Mega Brands Inc. has filed a Chapter 15 petition seeking recognition in the U.S. for its recapitalization in Canada, saying it has been suffering due to declining sales, several charges and write-offs, and negative publicity amid product recalls, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)
Japan Airlines Corp. won U.S. court protection while it reorganizes through its main bankruptcy case in Tokyo, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in Manhattan today granted the Tokyo-based airline Chapter 15 protection in Manhattan court, giving Japan Air a shield against U.S. lawsuits and helping it to organize U.S. creditors’ claims. In operation since 1951, Japan Airlines is the largest domestic carrier in Japan and filed the country’s fourth-biggest bankruptcy. The company’s Jan.