Mexican home-finance company Metrofinanciera SA said Wednesday that a court has approved its pre-packaged bankruptcy plan after it defaulted on debt early last year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. "In the coming days, Metrofinanciera will start the process to exchange securities in the period and terms outlined in the bankruptcy agreement, giving way to the creation of a new shareholder structure," the lender said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Mexico's No. 3 retailer Comercial Mexicana SAB on Thursday said it will seek investor approval at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on June 11 to restructure its debt under bankruptcy protection, Dow Jones reported. In a filing with the local stock exchange, the company said it will file for bankruptcy protection under Mexican law if the measure is backed by shareholders. Comercial Mexicana also said it will seek shareholder approval of the terms and conditions under which it will restructure its debt. The company didn't give further details in the filing.

Supermarket operator Controladora Comercial Mexicana could soon become the first major test of Mexico's overhauled insolvency laws as it readies to file a "pre-pack" debt restructuring that would end months of negotiations with creditors. As shoppers filled their carts at the company's stores around Mexico, behind the scenes its creditors were hammering out a deal to resolve more than $2 billion of derivatives losses the country's No. 3 supermarket operator suffered at the height of the financial crisis.

Corporate debt restructuring in Mexico has jumped over the past few years as companies struggled with bad bets on derivatives as well as the effects of the global recession. While large Mexican companies rarely use the country's insolvency law, some major debt deals have been reached in the past year. Cemex S.A.B. de C.V., the world's No. 3 cement maker, which was hurt by a poorly timed $16 billion purchase of Australia's Rinker in 2007 and loaded up on debt just before the global financial crisis crippled its sales. Comercial Mexicana S.A.B. de C.V., the country's No.

Vitro SAB, the Mexican glassmaker that defaulted on $1 billion of bonds last year, will delay making a second debt-restructuring offer until it receives proof that a group of creditors owns a quarter of the securities, said investor relations chief Adrian Meouchi, Bloomberg reported. A bondholder group that requested Vitro accelerate payments earlier this month failed to provide documentation showing it held at least 25 percent of the defaulted debt, Meouchi said in Jan. 25 telephone interview from Mexico City.

A four-year bankruptcy battle for control of Asarco finally ended Wednesday when the Tucson-based mining company emerged from Chapter 11 and into the arms of its long lost parent, Grupo Mexico, The AmLaw Daily reported. It was the largest environmental claims settlement in bankruptcy history--and probably worth more than $200 million in billable hours to legions of lawyers. The matter entered its final stage last month in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, when U.S. district court judge Andrew Hanen approved a $2 billion plan by Grupo Mexico to reacquire Asarco out of bankruptcy.

Grupo Mexico SAB de CV said on Wednesday it completed its deal to regain control of U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC, bringing to an end Asarco's four-year bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Asarco, based in Tucson, Arizona, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005 amid a strike and more than $1 billion of asbestos and environmental claims. Last month, a U.S. federal judge approved a more than $2 billion plan by the Mexican miner to take control of Asarco. Grupo Mexico first acquired Asarco in a leveraged buyout in 1999, but lost board control of the subsidiary due to the bankruptcy.

Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., India’s largest copper producer, rose to the highest price in a month in Mumbai as analysts said the company will save $2.5 billion having lost the bid to acquire bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC, Bloomberg reported. Grupo Mexico SAB can regain control of its Tucson, Arizona- based unit Asarco, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas ruled yesterday, rejecting a competing offer from Sterlite. Grupo Mexico and Sterlite each promised to spend more than $2.5 billion to guarantee that Asarco’s creditors are repaid in full.

A Texas judge has issued final approval of Grupo Mexico SAB's plan to regain control of copper miner Asarco LLC, ending a lengthy takeover battle with rival suitor Sterlite Industries, The Associated Press reported. The ruling will return control of Asarco to Americas Mining Corp., a Grupo Mexico subsidiary. The deal is expected to close by mid-December. Under the plan, Grupo Mexico will give $2.2 billion to Asarco to be distributed to creditors together with an estimated $1.4 billion in cash held by Asarco.

Sterlite Industries Ltd said on Monday that it would release Grupo Mexico SAB de CV from a potential legal liability of nearly $8 billion if the Indian miner can win control of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC, Reuters reported. In a court document filed on Monday, Sterlite said that if a federal court approves its plan to acquire Asarco over rival bidder Grupo Mexico's offer, it would not hold Grupo Mexico liable for more than about $900 million of liability related to the 2003 transfer of a Peruvian mine.