U.S. navigation device maker Garmin said it would raise its bid for debt-laden Raymarine by more than 16 percent, topping a third-party offer, if the British marine navigation supplier were to enter into administration, Reuters reported. Garmin said it would pay more than 17.5 pence for each share in Raymarine, representing a premium of at least 21 percent to Raymarine's Thursday close. Earlier on Friday, Raymarine said an unnamed third party had walked away from a potential deal but remained willing to reconsider a transaction if Raymarine placed itself with administrators.
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AbitibiBowater Inc., the Canadian paper company that sought bankruptcy protection last year to restructure its crushing debt load, won approval to keep sole control of its Chapter 11 case for another two months, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge Kevin J. Carey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., approved the Montreal-based pulp and paper manufacturer's request for an extension through July 21 of its sole right to file a plan to exit bankruptcy.
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Patients will continue to receive their publicly funded knee and hip replacement surgeries at a private medical facility in Calgary until January, but it will come at an additional cost to taxpayers, The Vancouver Sun reported. Alberta Health Services filed an application in Court of Queen's earlier this month in a bid to ward off bankruptcy proceedings caused by a legal dispute between Networc Health — which owns the Health Resource Centre — and one of its creditors, Cambrian Group of Companies.
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In the end, the billion-dollar auction of Canada’s largest newspaper chain wasn’t even close. Torstar Corp. and its deep-pocketed financial backer, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. -- once thought to be the favourites to buy the 46 papers that made up the CanWest Global Communications Corp. media empire -- instead placed a distant second in the bidding, The Globe and Mail reported. The winning offer this week came from a group of unsecured creditors who trumped Torstar and Fairfax’s $800-million offer by $300-million. The $1.1-billion bid came from a consortium that includes U.S.
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Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. has succeeded in its quest to raise GBP105 million ($156 million) to stave off a bank foreclosure on EMI Group, people familiar with the situation said, giving the private-equity firm leverage in its battle with lender Citigroup Inc. over the fate of the legendary music company, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. EMI has until Friday to inform Citi that it has come up with the cash necessary to stave off default in mid-June.
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Transurban Group said Monday that its Canadian pension fund shareholders are considering whether or not to lodge a revised takeover bid for Lane Cove Tunnel after it agreed to pay 630.5 million Australian dollars (US$569.4 million) for the tollroad operator, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Workers at newsprint maker AbitibiBowater have ratified a new collective agreement that includes cost reductions for the company, but protects pensions for retirees and workers, Reuters reported. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) said on Monday that the new agreement will remain effective until 2014. AbitibiBowater, headquartered in Montreal but incorporated in the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2009 after crumpling under a heavy debt load. Last week, the company filed what it called a "framework" for a plan of reorganization.
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Paul Godfrey, a veteran media executive with a salesman’s touch, has been given the biggest turnaround assignment of his business career: taking charge of Canada’s largest newspaper chain after a group of investors won the bidding for it, The Globe and Mail reported. The 46 publications, including the National Post, once formed a major piece of the now-crumbling CanWest Global Communications Corp. media empire and were sold Monday to unsecured lenders for $1.1-billion. The deal wraps up an auction process that began when the newspaper unit filed for creditor protection in January.
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Computer chip maker Qimonda North America Corp. is suing its German parent in Delaware bankruptcy court over the parent's bid to recoup more than $1.5 billion in intercompany debts from its North American affiliates, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Qimonda North America said that its corporate parent, Qimonda AG, stripped its North American unit of cash and assets in exchange of "near worthless" notes while loading up its struggling Virginia-based subsidiary with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans it knew it wouldn't repay.
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