Fisker Automotive, the bankrupt maker of a plug-in hybrid sports car, asked a federal judge to approve its proposed sale to a Hong Kong tycoon rather than a Chinese suitor that Fisker alleged was to blame for its failure. A courtroom showdown is set for January 10 that will determine the future of the defunct car maker, which was launched with a controversial U.S. government loan. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross must decide if Fisker's business will be put to open auction or sold to an affiliate of Richard Li as the company has proposed.

The cash-strapped Land Conservancy of British Columbia has decided to reduce its debt load by selling a historic property in a deal that could see it once again become a working farm, Metro News reported on a Canadian Press story. Land Conservancy manager John Shields says officials are nearing completion of a deal to sell Keating Farm, located about 60 kilometres north of Victoria near Duncan, for nearly $750,000. He says the prospective buyer is pledging to restore the site to a working farm.

China's largest auto parts company made a surprise bid for Fisker Automotive just days before the bankrupt maker of the Karma plug-in hybrid sports car was to be sold to a Hong Kong tycoon, according to court documents, Reuters reported. Fisker creditors asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to scrap Fisker's agreed sale to a company affiliated with Richard Li and instead hold an open auction at which auto parts supplier Wanxiang America Corp plans to bid.

Lone Pine Resources Inc. is requesting U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval of its reorganization plan, contingent with its also receiving the Canadian bankruptcy court's blessing early next year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is scheduled to ask the Canadian court to approve its plan during a sanction hearing on Jan. 9. That approval will implement the plan in Canada, but it still would require U.S. court confirmation. Lone Pine is requesting that on Jan. 14, the U.S.

Canada's economy expanded faster than expected in October, driven by the largest monthly gain in manufacturing in nearly two years, suggesting fourth-quarter growth may not be far off the strong gain seen in the previous three months, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Gross domestic product, the sum total of goods and services produced in the country, grew 0.3 percent to 1.60 trillion Canadian dollars ($1.51 trillion), the same pace as in September, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Canadian consumer debt is expected to rise to a record high by the end of next year due to a borrowing spree for new cars, home renovations and household items, says a new study released Thursday, The Toronto Star reported. Average total debt, excluding mortgages, is expected to jump by more than $1,000 from an estimated $27,743 in the last three months to an all-time high of $28,853 by the end of 2014, according to TransUnion, one of Canada’s largest credit bureaus.

The liquidation vehicle for Ireland's failed Anglo Irish Bank has been granted bankruptcy protection in the United States, it said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The bank, whose failure cost Irish taxpayers some 30 billion euros ($41 billion) in the financial crisis, was put into an accelerated liquidation process during an emergency session of Ireland's parliament in February. Now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corp, or IRBC, the liquidating bank applied in August for U.S. court protection to prevent creditors from going after more than $1 billion in U.S. assets.

The company operating as Sears Home Services has gone into receivership, leaving 643 people jobless and putting into limbo $3-million in customer deposits for home installed goods and services ranging from carpeting to roofing, The Toronto Star reported. SHS Services Management Inc. has been providing home installed products and services under the Sears Home Services banner since February. It went into receivership on Friday, citing liabilities of $17-million.

Caribbean countries are lobbying furiously for an extensive international debt relief and investment programme, as politicians become increasingly anxious over the social impact of the region’s economic crisis and the resulting government austerity, the Financial Times reported. Most of the dozen anglophone countries in the tropical archipelago off the coast of the US are struggling with large government debts and lacklustre economies after the global financial crisis hurt tourism, the dominant industry of the Caribbean.

When a runaway Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train hauling 72 tankers of Bakken crude oil derailed and exploded in the majestic town of Lac Megantic, Que., killing 47 people and destroying more than 40 buildings on July 6, 2013, it set in motion what is expected to be one of the most compelling and complex cross-border insolvencies ever tackled by Canadian and U.S. courts, Canadian Lawyer reported in a commentary.