In Bank of Montreal v River Rentals Group Ltd [2010] ABCA 16, the Alberta Court of Appeal had to consider the acceptance of a higher bid made after the tender closing date.

In a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Re Smurfit-Stone Container Canada Inc., Justice Pepall examined the conflicting interests that arise where companies within a group of restructuring companies have made intercompany loans to one another, and where the board of directors mirror each other in each subsidiary.

Recently, in Re AbitibiBowater Inc., the Province of Newfoundland sought a court order granting it access to the electronic data room of Abitibi created for the purpose of dissemination of certain non-public financial and operation information to its counsel, certain creditors, and the Monitor. The Court denied the Province’s application on the basis that it could not prove itself to be a legitimate stakeholder of Abitibi, and on several policy grounds.

A commercial landlord should never assume that, if his tenant goes into administration or liquidation, he will not be able to obtain rent from the administrator or liquidator in respect of the period following appointment of the administrator or liquidator.

Over the last two years, with the fluctuations in the economic market, commercial real estate in distress has become a lively topic among insolvency practitioners and even in court decisions.

In a corporate reorganization under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (the “CCAA”), the design of appropriate classes of creditors can be central to the success of the restructuring initiative. The requisite “double majority” for a plan of arrangement to be approved, being a majority in number and two thirds by value of support from creditors, is required per class in order to be binding on that class.

On October 13, 2009, Arclin Canada Ltd./Arclin Canada Ltee. (“Arclin”), who is restructuring under CCAA proceedings and whose American affiliates are restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, sought the approval of key employee retention program (“KERP”) agreements with its Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer, and sought sealing orders with respect of the agreements. The KERP was approved by Justice Hoy. The following are some noteworthy points from this case.

The Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") has announced that it will conduct a review of the corporate insolvency market in the UK. Its aim is to assess the level of competition in the UK market and ensure that the market itself is working well for consumers.

Nortel Networks (“Nortel”) brought a motion seeking approval of the sale of various Nortel assets to Nokia Siemens (“Asset Sale Agreement”), and for approval of a Sale Agreement and Bidding Procedures, advanced by Nortel for the purpose of conducting a “stalking horse” bidding process in respect of its Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) and Long-Term Evolution Access (“LTE”) assets. As of the date of the motion, Nortel had yet to propose a formal plan of compromise or arrangement.

Some of the customers of Farepak, the failed Christmas hamper company that went into liquidation with BDO Stoy Hayward some three years ago, will apparently soon receive their first dividend cheques out of the insolvency. Perhaps even in time for Christmas 2009!