North America

Telecom equipment company Nortel Networks Corp. plans to cut its work force by 3,200 jobs worldwide, or more than 10 percent of its global work force, in an effort to restructure its operations while under court protection, the Associated Press reported. The Canada-based telecom equipment maker said Wednesday the new round of job cuts will be made over the next several months. The reduction is on top of 1,800 job cuts already announced. Nortel filed for creditor protection Jan. 14 in Canada and the United States.

The Canadian government has hit Chrysler Canada with a tax-related C$500 million ($400 million) lien that could complicate negotiations for the automaker as it seeks government aid, the Globe and Mail newspaper said on Thursday. The paper, citing federal court documents, said the Canada Revenue Agency notified Chrysler Canada in 2002 that it owed "substantial increases" in taxes for three years starting in 1996.

General Motors Europe said on Wednesday it was prepared to discuss partnerships or outside investment for its Opel unit as pressure mounted on the government in Berlin to help rescue the German brand, Spiegel Online reported. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said Opel must first present a clear restructuring plan before her government can consider giving assistance. GM Europe's United States parent company on Tuesday night announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 47,000 jobs this year and to cut five additional American plants by 2012.

Precision Nuclear Inc. and its sister company Precision Metal Works Ltd., both owned by Fredericton-area businessman David Rioux, were placed under the receivership of Green Hunt Wedlake Inc., the New Brunswick Business Journal reported. The Halifax-based bankruptcy trustees and insolvency consultants were appointed by the Court of Queen's Bench for 30 days while Rioux, the president, chief executive and sole shareholder of the companies, tries to come up with a reorganization plan that would meet the approval of its creditors.

General Motors Co. is trying to line up $6 billion in financial support from five governments in addition to the U.S. federal aid outlined in its restructuring plan late Tuesday, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The U.S. automaker said it is in talks with authorities in Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Canada and Thailand to secure the aid by March 31, in line with a U.S. government deadline for continuing and extending support to keep the company out of bankruptcy protection.

Air Canada, the country's biggest airline, could be forced to file for bankruptcy protection if it does not secure additional financing and succeed in renegotiating covenants in credit card agreements, UBS analyst Fadi Chamoun said. Covenants in credit card agreements could tighten further in the second quarter and result in the airline being required to maintain higher cash deposits, said Chamoun, who downgraded Air Canada shares to "sell" from "neutral". He also cut his target price for its shares to C$1 from C$1.50.

The pressure on Network Ten's majority owner, CanWest, is not letting up, and analysts are raising the spectre of bankruptcy for the cash-strapped media group, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The company, controlled by the Asper family, early this week began looking for buyers for five of its free-to-air television stations in Canada as it is seeking to avert breaching its lending covenants this quarter.

Two New Brunswick companies will likely be put into receivership next week after lawyers for the firms and their creditors negotiated throughout the day Thursday, The Daily Gleaner reported. Precision Nuclear Inc. was before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paulette Garnett on Thursday seeking protection under the Companies Credits Arrangements Act, which would give it a chance to continue operation.

Telecom equipment company Nortel Networks Corp. said Tuesday it has received a bankruptcy protection extension to May 1 from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Associated Press reported. Nortel filed for creditor protection Jan. 14 in Canada and the United States and got an initial 30-day protection period. The Toronto-based company became the first major technology company to take that step in this global downturn. The filing came a day before Nortel was due to make a debt payment of $107 million.

Nortel Networks Corp is working on a "detailed plan" to further cut its global workforce as it restructures under bankruptcy protection, and it will seek to avoid holding an annual shareholder meeting because it says it would be distracting and expensive, Ernst & Young Inc, the monitor overseeing Nortel's bankruptcy protection, said in a court report posted on its website.