North America

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.

Nortel Networks Corp. is seeking a three-month extension to deal with its restructuring under bankruptcy protection, The Canadian Press reported. The company is asking the courts for the stay period to be extended to May 1. Nortel spokesperson Mohammed Nakhooda said motions were filed late Thursday and will be dealt with next week.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has asked the bankruptcy court to let it retain Jones Day as special counsel to help the former financial services company with issues that have arisen in the Asia-Pacific region related to its Chapter 11 case. In a motion filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Lehman said the law firm would help it in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and Australia with matters related to its bankruptcy filing.

Sakthi Sugars Ltd said on Thursday two of its European units have filed for bankruptcy as required under local laws following an economic slowdown in United States and Europe, which resulted in a drastic reduction in orders, Reuters reported. Sakthi Germany GmbH, a 6th step down subsidiary which operates two plants in the country, and Sakthi Sweden A.B., a 3rd step down unit and a Swedish holding company, have filed for bankruptcy under the laws of the respective countries, it said in a statement to the stock exchange.

Fiat SpA is racing to meet a Feb. 17 deadline to comb through the operations of Chrysler LLC before going forward with a joint venture by the car makers, Fiat's chief executive said in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal. Under terms of the emergency loans Chrysler received from the U.S. government, it must present a plan by that date showing how it intends to be viable. The Fiat pact is a key part of the effort. Sergio Marchionne said Fiat is still studying the vehicle-production operations of Chrysler and then will turn to its due-diligence analysis of its finances.

Personal bankruptcies among Canadians rose 9% in the first 11 months of 2008 over 2007, Equifax Canada has reported. The information solutions company’s most recent data, as of Nov. 30, shows that the number of consumer bankruptcy filings for 2008 had reached 109,068, up from 100,253 bankruptcies at the end of November 2007, Investment Executive reported. By the end of November, total consumer bankruptcies had already surpassed, by 1.6%, the total amount of bankruptcies for all of 2007, which totalled 107,312.

Former employees of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp. have called on the troubled telecommunications company to restore promised severances it suspended after filing for Chapter 11 protection earlier this month, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. In a memo sent to Nortel Chief Executive Mike Zafirovski and other officers, the workers urged the Canadian company to show good faith and reverse its decision to deny the payouts.