North America

A legal change in the bonds that will emerge from a debt restructuring in the South Asian island of Sri Lanka could set a precedent for sovereign debt contracts, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s officials and its international bondholders have agreed to keep New York as the governing law of new notes to be issued under a $12.6 billion rework, but are introducing a mechanism that allows creditors to request a change to English or Delaware law, according to a government statement on Thursday.

The European Union’s top official said on a trip to Kyiv on Friday that Europe would offer Ukraine a loan of 35 billion euros, about $39 billion, backed by frozen Russian assets, the New York Times reported. European leaders said the loan would move forward initially without contributions from the United States, after talks between American and European officials stalled in recent days. The official, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to reiterate Europe’s continued support for his country.

Laurentian University has come a long way to repairing damage to its reputation in the nearly two years since it exited insolvency restructuring in late 2022, said the university’s new president, Sudbury.com reported. Lynn Wells, who became Laurentian’s 12th president and vice-chancellor in April, spoke about the many daunting tasks she has ahead of her to a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce audience on Sept. 17, as well as a meeting of Laurentian’s senate held the same day.

Canada Jetlines has appointed BDO Canada Limited as trustee of the bankrupt estate, the carrier announced, while Dentons Canada LLP will continue as the company's legal counsel, ch-aviation.com reported. Jetlines' creditors, who are owed a total of CAD11.8 million Canadian dollars, are set to have a teleconference meeting on October 1. “On September 11, 2024, Canada Jetlines Operations Ltd. filed an Assignment in Bankruptcy after finding that it would be unable to secure financing to continue with its Proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Canadian manufacturing activity picked up more strongly than expected in July thanks to an improvement by most of the country’s refineries with a rise in prices and demand and a jump in pharmaceutical and medicine sales, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sales volumes also improved, hinting at a recovery for a sector that has remained in the doldrums and offering a tailwind for the economy for the month. Factory shipments rose 1.4% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 70.97 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about US$52.23 billion, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Bank of Montreal persuaded a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to throw out a $564 million jury verdict against a subsidiary over its role in an approximately $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme run by convicted Minnesota businessman Tom Petters, Reuters reported. Citing a similar case involving Bernard Madoff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said that a court-appointed trustee for the now-bankrupt Petters Co could not recover on behalf of its creditors because that firm had helped orchestrate the fraud. The 3-0 decision by the St.

A recent flurry of judicial and economic rule changes has served as a reminder of just how unpredictable operating in Latin America can be, denting the region’s appeal for foreign investors already weary after years of sub-par returns, Bloomberg News reported.