North America

New Zealand-listed Hamilton Securities Ltd will make an off-market takeover bid for the debentures of the Timbercorp Orchard Trust, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on an AAP story. Hamilton Securities, which was founded in October 2009, will offer 30 A-class shares in Hamilton Securities for each debenture, of which there are 567,737 on issue, each with a face value of $100.

The International Banking Corp., a Bahrain-based provider of commercial loans, filed a Chapter 15 bankruptcy petition, seeking protection from U.S. creditors, The China Post reported. TIBC had assets of US$4 billion and liabilities of US$2.6 billion as of July 31, according to documents filed in Manhattan court Monday. TIBC is under administration proceedings in Bahrain, with Trowers & Hamlins Services Ltd. acting as administrator, and Zolfo Cooper hired for restructuring work.

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.

Ciena Corp was cleared to acquire a unit of bankrupt Nortel Networks Inc. for $769 million after fighting off a legal challenge by Nokia Siemens Networks, Reuters reported. Network equipment maker Ciena trumped an offer by Nokia Siemens and its financial partner, One Equity Partners, with an auction-winning bid of $530 million in cash and $239 million in convertible securities for Nortel's optical networking and carrier Ethernet business.

The battle over Nortel Network's optical network division may not be over, The Ottawa Citizen reported. Nokia Siemens Networks said in a U.S. bankruptcy court filing Tuesday that it, not Ciena Corp., was the top bidder in the auction that ended a week ago. It is also ready to increase its offer to $810 million U.S. in cash, or $41 million more than the Ciena cash-and-debt offer that won the fight. The question now is how U.S. and Canadian courts handle the latest twist in the complicated business of selling off Nortel assets.

Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corp., the Canadian company planning to build a C$4 billion ($3.8 billion) oil refinery on the country’s east coast, won a judge’s approval to exit bankruptcy and find a buyer or a partner for the project within two years, Bloomberg reported. Newfoundland Supreme Court Judge Robert Hall dismissed objections from BAE Newplan Group Ltd., a unit of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., and Japan Steel Works Ltd., Kobe Steel Works Ltd. and IPS Services Inc., who had sought to have the Canadian company declared bankrupt.

General Motors asked European governments to help pay most of the $4.9 billion that it needs to restructure its struggling European operations, The Washington Post reported. At talks in Brussels, E.U. nations where GM has plants vowed to avoid individual negotiations with the company before a Dec. 4 meeting, where they will coordinate their response to GM's restructuring plans, due later this week.

W.C. Wood Corp., which owned a freezer factory in Ottawa, announced it couldn't find a buyer in time to avoid liquidating the entire company, Industrial Laser Solutions reported. A Canadian court placed the company in receivership, leaving the Ottawa plant's remaining 150 employees without a job. The company had been looking for a buyer since filing a Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada in May. It received Chapter 15 protection in the United States in June.

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.