Homburg Invest says it needs $34.5 million from the partial sale of its investment in Homburg Canada REIT to provide it with liquidity during its restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. The transaction was scheduled to close Monday. Part of the proceeds will be used to reduce Homburg Invest's line of credit with HSBC to $5 million by Friday. The operating loan stood at $15 million as of last week's court filing. The Halifax-headquartered company announced Aug.

The receiver of Blockbuster Canada Co is seeking an order from the Ontario Superior Court to wind down the video rental company's operations and shut its 253 remaining retail stores, Reuters reported. Blockbuster Inc's Canadian unit, which used to operate nearly 400 stores in Canada, had filed for protection from a New York bankruptcy court in May, a month after its U.S. parent was acquired by Dish Network for $320 million.

Hart Stores Inc. has obtained an initial order for court protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, CanadianBusiness.com reported on a Canadian Press story. The company, which owns mid-sized department stores throughout Eastern Canada, said that the move will allow its locations to operate while it restructures. Hart Stores received approval from the Quebec Superior Court for protection under CCAA until Sept. 29, though extensions could be granted. RSM Richter Inc. was appointed as the monitor.

BDO Canada Ltd. has acquired KPMG's consumer insolvency practice for an undisclosed price, making it one of the country's largest providers of such bankruptcy and credit counselling services, The Globe and Mail reported on a Canadian Press story. The integrated services — which offer trustees in consumer bankruptcy, proposal administrators and credit counsellors — began operating under the BDO Canada Ltd. name effective last Friday. BDO is the fifth-largest single national accounting and advisory partnership in Canada.

Creditors of Mexican glassmaker Vitro said they will appeal a recent ruling that would let the company vote on its restructuring terms -- putting Vitro itself ahead of other creditors, Reuters reported. A Monterrey-based judge last week ruled that under Mexico's bankruptcy law Vitro qualifies as a creditor because of its $1.9 billion of intercompany debt, giving it an advantage over other creditors when it comes to deciding its $3.4 billion restructuring plan.

Further clarity emerged this week as to what regulators will require from banks to make bank capital instruments compliant under Basel 3 when Canada released its rules on non-viability contingent capital, Reuters reported. However, while the release provided clues on how regulators will define non-viability, the implications for Europe are not obvious while current market conditions would make any issuance extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Changing demographics, increasingly vocal retirees, and the prospect of more companies finding themselves in trouble have all combined to create more interest than ever in pension law, a leading practitioner said this morning, the Canadian Lawyer Legal Feeds blog reported. “I have often marvelled myself at the interest in pension law,” Andrew Hatnay of Toronto’s Koskie Minsky LLP said at the Canadian Bar Association conference in Halifax.

Mexican glassmaker Vitro on Monday said a court in Monterrey ruled it can vote on its own inter-company debt, a sticking point that has mired the company's bankruptcy plans in court battles with creditors, Reuters reported. Vitro, which has been battling with external creditors over its plans to restructure about $3.4 billion in debt, filed a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan in December. The company, in a separate court case, had argued it should have more control over the bankruptcy proceeding because of its inter-company debt.

Nortel Networks Corp., which has been selling off all of its businesses under court protection from creditors, said Thursday it lost US$115 million in its latest quarter, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. The former telecom hardware maker, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said the loss amounted to 23 cents per share in the quarter ended June 30 compared with a loss of $1.6 billion or $3.22 per share a year ago. Revenue totalled $1 million for the quarter compared with $145 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Russian conglomerates Kaskol and RU-COM will increase their energy holdings by together acquiring Composite Technology Corp.'s assets out of its U.S. bankruptcy proceeding in a deal valued at more than $11 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Russian companies' joint venture, called CTC Acquisition Corp., will pay $1 million in cash and take on the responsibility for at least $10.5 million of Composite Technology's liabilities, according to a purchase agreement filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana., Calif.