Mobilicity Gets Creditor Protection

Small wireless carrier Mobilicity says it has been granted creditor protection by the courts while awaiting a ruling from Industry Canada on an unspecified transaction, CBC News reported. Mobilicity, which has been looking for a buyer, said Monday that creditor protection would give it the necessary time and financing to complete the transaction now before the federal body for review and approval. The Toronto company, which launched in 2010, provided no details about the transaction, but said it was in the best interests of its stakeholders.
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The U.S. company whose runaway oil tanker train exploded and killed 47 people in a small Quebec town in July can operate trains through Oct. 18, Canadian regulators said on Thursday in a ruling that prolongs a temporary extension by about two weeks, Reuters reported. But the Canadian Transportation Agency said it had not yet decided whether to grant a request from Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and its Canadian subsidiary for permission to continue operations until Jan. 15, 2014. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in August, just weeks after the Lac-Megantic disaster.
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Bermuda's Supreme Court ruled for the liquidation of Brazilian private-equity firm Laep Investments Ltd, in response to a reuqest by an investment fund, according to a securities filing on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Laep, which is based in Bermuda but mostly operated from its offices in São Paulo, has been under strain in recent years after some of its main investments - including milk producer LBR Lácteos do Brasil SA and high-end luxury retailer Daslú - failed to produce the expected returns.
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Lone Pine Shares Worthless Under Deal

Long-suffering shareholders of debt-laden junior gas producer Lone Pine Resources Inc. will be left with nothing under a deal struck with its noteholders to trade debt for stock, The Calgary Herald reported. The agreement announced Wednesday, which requires court approval, would result in shareholders having their stock cancelled without compensation while holders of the Calgary company’s debt instruments will wind up in full control.
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The slew of objections filed this week in the US bankruptcy proceedings of Irish Bank Resolutions Corporation (IBRC) has delayed by several weeks its bid to protect up to $1 billion of its assets from potential seizure by creditors, the Irish Times reported. Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG, the special liquidators of IBRC, had originally sought an emergency hearing at a Delaware court yesterday for Chapter 15 protection. This would protect its US assets from a litany of lawsuits brought against it by US creditors, until the bank’s Irish wind-down was completed.
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Belgian financial group Dexia has entered into exclusive talks with New York Life Investments to sell its asset management unit, it said late on Thursday. The group, which has to sell Dexia Asset Management as part of a deal with European regulators in exchange for state aid it received in recent years, did not say how much New York Life Investments planned to offer. Dexia had initially agreed to sell the asset management arm to Hong Kong-based GCS Capital for 380 million euros ($507 million), but that deal fell through in July.
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Arcapita, a private equity and investment company based in Bahrain, has emerged from bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this week, concluding a reorganization that analysts say may represent the first true post-financial-crisis debt restructuring by an Arab Gulf company, The Wall Street Journal Middle East Real Time blog reported. The bankruptcy plan approved by a U.S. court envisions Arcapita selling down its portfolio of assets over five years to repay creditors, and then effectively going out of business.
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US Court Allows Nama To Seize Dunne Land

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) was granted permission by a US court to take control of 67 acres of land at Celbridge, Co Kildare, owned by bankrupt property developer Seán Dunne, the Irish Times reported. The State loans agency sought relief from the automatic stay granting Mr Dunne court protection from his creditors to take control of the land, which is now worth just €812,000 but is securing Nama debt of €65 million.
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Two so-called vulture funds in the United States, which hold $75 million of subordinated bonds issued by the former Anglo Irish Bank, are threatening to scupper an attempt by the bank’s liquidators to protect $1 billion of its US assets from seizure by its creditors. The Irish Times understands that the funds, Burlington Alpha and Burlington Beta, are linked to Elliott Management, the giant hedge fund controlled by US billionaire Paul Singer. Mr Singer is one of the US Republican Party’s biggest contributors.
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Ernst & Young are aiming to dig the Tucker’s Point Club out from underneath a mountain of debt, the Bermuda Sun reported. At 2pm on Thursday Roy Bailey and Keiran Hutchison of Ernst & Young Ltd., Bermuda were appointed joint receivers of Bermuda Properties Ltd and certain subsidiaries which own the Tucker’s Point resort. The receivership only affects the companies that own the property and do not affect Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, who will continue to operate the resort and golf club on a business as usual basis.
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