Canada's BCE Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million cash and drop $500 million worth of claims to settle litigation over the collapse of Teleglobe Communications Corp., a failed subsidiary, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., set out terms of the pact, which caps five years of litigation in courts in the U.S. and Canada. The deal means cash for bondholders of Teleglobe and a smaller pile of debt in the bankruptcy case, a product of the telecommunications industry meltdown of 2000 and 2001.

Bankrupt Canadian newsprint producer AbitibiBowater Inc said it repaid $166 million of its debtor-in-possession loan following an improvement in market conditions and operational performance, Reuters reported. In regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it now had $40 million outstanding under the loan. AbitibiBowater also extended the DIP loan to Dec. 31, 2010, and modified certain covenants. It now has the ability to retain the proceeds from asset sales without triggering a mandatory prepayment. The amendment fee amounted to about $1 million.

AbitibiBowater Inc. is seeking to keep control of its restructuring for an extra three months so it can stay on track to emerge from bankruptcy early this fall, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The giant pulp-and-paper manufacturer is urging the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to extend the time in which it alone has the right to file a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, which AbitibiBowater has already filed but is continuing to negotiate the terms of with its creditors. If the court doesn't agree to extend its exclusive plan-filing rights through Oct.

Mexico's third-largest retail chain, Comercial Mexicana, aims to resume modest expansion next year with a handful of new stores once it completes its $1.54 billion pre-packaged debt-restructuring agreement, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Growth at Comercial Mexicana, which runs 231 stores and 73 restaurants, has been virtually on hold since October 2008 when blowout losses on foreign exchange derivatives - wrong-way bets on the Mexican peso - led to a debt default and the restructuring process, which is expected to be concluded within months.

Almatis Group said it has lined up $592 million to fund a potential restructuring plan that would see it exit bankruptcy under the ownership of Dubai International Capital, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In court papers filed Monday, the aluminum company said it expects to ask the bankruptcy court shortly for permission to strike a deal with various firms that are willing to back the Chapter 11 plan of reorganization that current Almatis owner Dubai International Capital wants to sponsor.

A Mexican provider of tourism services at a beachfront hotel in Cozumel filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. Cozumel Caribe SA blamed its bankruptcy filing on the “drastic” drop in foreign tourists visiting the Hotel Park Royal Cozumel, from where the company operates.

Online reservation company 1800Hotels has continued to make “numerous” holiday bookings even after seeking bankruptcy protection last Tuesday, a leading US travel company has claimed to a Florida court, The Irish Times reported. Mark Travel, which handles reservations for major tour operators, said the firm’s Dublin-based parent company was trying to compel it to take these bookings without showing any ability to pay. The bankruptcy laws were supposed to act “as a shield, not a sword.

The future of BP PLC has shifted in recent days from a death-watch discussion to a debate about how valuable the British oil giant will be after it finishes paying for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, the Associated Press reported. BP gained temporary control of its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and is counting on shutting it off permanently within weeks. Its shares have regained more than a quarter of the value lost in the wake of the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

AbitibiBowater Inc. on Thursday pushed off until July 30 a preliminary hearing on its Chapter 11 exit plan, as talks continue with investors clamoring for a piece of the paper-maker's $500 million debt-rights offering, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Aurelius Capital Management LP and Contrarian Capital Management LLC say their $620 million claim entitles them to participate in the deal, part of AbitibiBowater's bankruptcy emergence financing.

Retailer Comercial Mexicana said Wednesday that it has submitted its prepackaged $1.54 billion debt-restructuring agreement to a Mexican court with 98% of its creditors on board, Dow Jones reported. Comercial Mexicana said in a press release that the restructuring agreement, which was announced in late May, has the support of all of its derivatives counterparties and bank creditors, and 88% of its bond creditors. The restructuring already has been approved by the company's shareholders. Under the agreement, the company will issue new debt in pesos and U.S.