Headlines

Quebecor World has emerged from bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada, PrintWeek reported. In a statement, the print giant said it has effectively cancelled its shares and announced new issues of common shares, Class A Convertible preferred shares, and Series I and II Warrants. The new shares are expected to launch on the Toronto stock exchange within 30 days. It said it has drawn down some $540m from its $800m financing facility and has now fully paid back its debtor in possession credit facility.

National Australia Bank Ltd. plans to raise up to 2.75 billion Australian dollars (US$2.24 billion) in fresh capital to help shore up its balance sheet as loans continue to sour, The Wall Street Journal reported. Melbourne-based NAB said that total charges for bad and doubtful debts were A$1.064 billion for the three months ended June 30, as asset quality continued to deteriorate. Bad and doubtful debts for the six months to March 31 came to $A1.8 billion. NAB joins Australia's other major banks in bolstering its capital position as a buffer against deteriorating economic conditions.

Mortgage broking platform provider Pisces Group has been released from voluntary administration after just five weeks, The Australian reported. The company, chaired by former Liberal leader John Hewson, was placed in voluntary administration in June, struggling to contain debts inherited after it acquired three smaller companies. Pisces Group’s original founder and business manager, Vincent Turner, said that the company had been placed back into the hands of management under a deed of company arrangement which will be in place for the next two years.

Collins & Aikman Automotive Canada Inc. announced last week it applied for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Northumberland Today reported. "This (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) filing will allow the company to complete any potential sale transactions involving our Canadian Plastics operations," said John Boken, Collins & Aikman's chief restructuring officer.

A small, troubled Spanish bank controlled by the Catholic Church is looking for a savior as it comes to terms with the massive loan losses that are shaking Spain's network of small savings banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. Cordoba-based CajaSur, which is headed by priest Santiago Gomez Sierra, said Tuesday it was in merger talks with larger and healthier savings bank Unicaja, which has traditional ties to the Spanish Socialist Party. Both are based in Spain's southern Andalusia region. Any deal would need the Bank of Spain's approval.

General Motors Corp. on Monday said it received final offers for its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe from three bidders, without naming them, The Wall Street Journal reported. A person familiar with matter said Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., owned by the Chinese government, has submitted a final bid. Another person close to the discussions on Friday said Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. and Belgian investment group RHJ International SA are the front-runners to clinch the deal.

Bankrupt Canadian telecommunications provider Nortel Networks Corp. has tapped Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP to assist in the sale of its global Enterprise Solutions business to Avaya Inc. for $475 million, as the company continues to unload assets, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Several of Air Canada's employee unions want the Canadian government to put up all of the C$600 million ($545 million) the cash-strapped carrier needs to meet immediate financial obligations, and shut out private lenders. The unions are concerned that lucrative landing slots, which it said the company has proposed putting up as part of collateral for loans, could end up in private hands and then be sold, said Katherine Thompson, spokeswoman for the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

Bazis International, a Kazakh developer planning a C$542 million ($490 million) hotel- condominium tower in Toronto, struck a deal with lenders that stopped the project from being put into immediate receivership, Bloomberg reported. A group of private lenders, who put up C$46 million for the development, deferred a request before an Ontario judge to place the project into receivership yesterday and sell the property in the center of Toronto after negotiating all day with Bazis lawyers. Ontario Superior Court Judge Herman Siegel adjourned the request to Aug.

The National Distribution Union is calling for an overhaul of New Zealand's receivership law after some redundant Lane Walker Rudkin staff are unlikely to see their full entitlements, The Press reported. More than two months after being made redundant, most of the 186 LWR workers have received 55 cents in the dollar after money was put into bank accounts in the past few days. However, the 55 cents was based on the total employee preferential entitlements, which is limited to $16,420 under law.