AbitibiBowater Inc. is seeking to quickly strike a deal in connection with a proposed bankruptcy-exit financing package of up to $750 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The pulp-and-paper company is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to schedule an Aug. 25 hearing at which it would consider allowing AbitibiBowater to enter into agreements with Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., which have agreed to manage a $750 million notes offering.

Bankruptcy decisions made by US courts could be enforceable in England and Wales after an important court ruling that lawyers say could have implications for former UK clients of collapsed bank Lehman Brothers and those of the fraudster Bernard Madoff, the Financial Times reported. The Court of Appeal recently ruled in the case of a trust created by Eurofinance SA that English courts could recognise overseas insolvency proceedings made by US courts. Previously US bankruptcy judgments were not enforceable in the UK unless a separate UK action had been started on the same grounds.

A U.S. federal magistrate has shielded Nortel Networks Corp. from action by U.K. pension regulators who fear the troubled company will walk away from obligations to 40,000 retirees, leaving a $3.4 billion funding shortfall, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Recommendations issued Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge relieve the company of worry that the U.K.'s Pension Regulator will intrude as Nortel negotiates a bankruptcy exit plan, at least until a federal district judge reviews and acts on Thynge's recommendations.

The trial of a lawsuit by Lyondell Chemical Co. creditors against billionaire Len Blavatnik that claims a 2007 merger drove the company into bankruptcy is set to begin in New York next month, Bloomberg reported. Summonses were filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan listing Blavatnik and 41 other people and companies that allegedly played a role in Lyondell’s takeover by Luxembourg-based Basell AF SCA. A pretrial conference is set for Sept. 13.

Companies that leased planes and equipment to Compania Mexicana de Aviacion are asking a U.S. bankruptcy judge to lift a restraining order barring them from taking their property back from Mexico's largest airline, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Lawyers for Wells Fargo & Co. and two other Mexicana creditors said in a court filing that they have the contractual right under New York law to immediately take the planes and equipment back. Once the airline terminated the leases, the creditors say, Mexicana forfeited its rights under the lease terms. Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S.

Mexican bank Banorte said it has only limited exposure to the financial woes of Mexicana de Aviacion, the Mexican airline that filed for credit protection in Mexico and the United States this week, Reuters reported. The bank said in a statement on Wednesday that it was not a direct creditor of the struggling airline but was owed money by Mexicana's holding company. The bank said the group's credit commitments to Banorte totaled 1.576 billion pesos ($125 million) and would expire in 2014.

Debt-ridden Mexicana de Aviacion, which filed for creditor protection in Mexico and the United States this week, suspended ticket sales on Wednesday as its operating troubles deepened. Company spokesman Adolfo Crespo told Radio Formula that the airline will continue operating flights that have been already sold. A spokesman for the pilots' union told Reuters that they were expected to meet with Mexico's labor minister on Thursday in a bid to strike a deal with the company's management. The flight attendants union was not immediately available for comment.

Dubai International Capital, the private equity arm of the Gulf Arab emirate, said it will focus on bringing German aluminium maker Almatis out of bankruptcy after a long-running battle with a dissident lender ended, Reuters Africa reported. Oaktree Capital Management LP withdrew its opposition to DIC's plan to retain control of the bankrupt firm after a settlement offer was leaked. Oaktree and Dubai have been battling over the best way to refinance Almatis, which filed for bankruptcy in the United States with more than $1 billion in debt, for the past year.

The empire of Alberta's premier chocolate maker is melting after 27 years of providing high-end treats, The Calgary Herald reported. Debt problems brought on by slumping sales and an ill-timed real estate buy forced Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut into receivership Tuesday, leaving roughly 210 employees at 30 stores and the Calgary factory and headquarters under the control of a court-appointed financial services firm. Vic Kroeger, senior vice-president with Deloitte & Touche in Calgary, said raising new capital is probably the company's "only hope" of survival.

The main unit of Mexicana on Tuesday warned it could face liquidation unless Mexico's largest airline was allowed to keep operating aircraft in the wake of its bankruptcy filing, Dow Jones reported. Compania Mexicana de Aviacion filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Mexico on Monday after failing to reach a new deal with its unions to cut costs after a period of rapid expansion. The airline continued to operate most flights Tuesday, but said in court filings that aircraft leasing companies and owners were taking steps to repossess planes.