North America

Great River Journey, a First Nations tourism venture that sold $1,000-a-day wilderness tours on the Yukon River, has been given more time to come up with a bankruptcy protecton plan, CBC News reported. Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower granted Great River Journey, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, 45 more days to work out a plan. The company has more than $10 million in debts, and it is seeking $2.5 million to relaunch, president George Asquith said Monday.

A restructuring deal at General Motors' loss-making European carmaker Opel was signed into effect on Monday, aimed at saving 265 million euros ($325 million) in annual wage costs through 2014, labour leader Klaus Franz said. After drafting a master agreement on May 21, European union and workforce representatives from countries hosting Opel's major manufacturing plants also signed the deal with Opel Chief Executive Nick Reilly, Reuters reported.

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.

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.

The global campaign to harmonize rules for financial firms is swerving off course, threatening efforts to curb the risky bets that rocked the world economy two years ago, The Washington Post reported. As U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner lands in Europe on Wednesday, differences are growing among world leaders over how to keep the promise they made at the height of the financial crisis: that they would work together to reshape how finance is governed. Their aim was to avoid another upheaval by making financial rules consistent across borders and closing loopholes.

AbitibiBowater Inc, the world's largest newsprint maker, plans to emerge from bankruptcy with a simplified structure so it can take on the challenge of declining demand, its chief executive said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Montreal-based company said on Monday it has the support of unsecured creditors for a reorganization plan that would swap unsecured debt for equity. Post-bankruptcy, the company would have consolidated its debt with the parent company, eliminating debt that was issued by dozens of U.S.

U.S. celebrity fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group is backing the bid led by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen for insolvent German department store chain Karstadt, Reuters reported. A spokesman for Berggruen said on Tuesday Azria was supporting Berggruen's bid, which he launched late on Friday.

AbitibiBowater Inc. is seeking the green light from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to rework its accounts-receivable securitization facility to take advantage of improving business conditions, a move the company says will save it millions of dollars in the coming months, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Canadian paper maker, which sought bankruptcy protection more than a year ago to restructure its crushing debt load, says it can save $4 million over the next five months by reworking the securitization program with a group of banks led Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc.

Planet Organic Health Corp. is set to be acquired by its principal creditor, the Edmonton-based natural and organic products retailer said Friday. Planet Organic received bankruptcy protection last month under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act when more than $31.1 million in debt was called in by Catalyst Capital Group Inc., the Edmonton Journal reported. The Toronto private-equity firm, which invests in distressed companies, had bought the debt from Ares Capital Corp. in April.

Newfoundland and Labrador struck out for a second time Tuesday in its efforts to force AbitibiBowater to pay for a costly environmental cleanup, The Canadian Press reported. Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Jacques Chamberland denied the province's request for leave to appeal a ruling by Quebec Superior Court Justice Clement Gascon. "It is my view that the province's application raises no issue which satisfies the test for granting leave to appeal under CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act)," he wrote.