North America

Nemaska Lithium, a Canadian lithium producer backed by SoftBank, has filed for bankruptcy protection as it scrambles to raise emergency funding to keep its flagship project alive, the Financial Times reported. The Toronto-listed company has been struggling to finance development of Whabouchi, a lithium mine and processing facility in Quebec, amid a cost blowout and a steep fall in the price of the metal, a constituent of electric car batteries. Nemaska on Monday said it was seeking protection from its creditors to give it sufficient time to complete a refinancing.

Low inflation, tight public spending and a reduction in the vast debts of loss-making state oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) have helped spruce up Mexico’s so-called risk profile, which reached its “safest” level in five years this month, Reuters reported. Risk premiums of investing in Mexico, as measured by traders in credit default swaps (CDS), hit their lowest level since November 2014 despite business and investor concerns about the economic management of the leftist government.

Mexico’s central bank delivered its fourth quarter-point reduction in a row opting to continue the cautious pace of easing despite the economy having ground to a halt, the Financial Times reported. Banxico on Thursday lowered its key lending rate to 7.25 per cent as expected. Only one of the five board members voted for a half-point cut, the bank said in a statement. While the central bank had room for a bolder move, analysts said there were lingering concerns about core inflation and fears a surprise bigger cut could wipe out the peso’s recent gains.

Lawyers for customers of an insolvent cryptocurrency exchange have asked police to exhume the body of the company’s founder, amid efforts to recover about $190 million (€170.5 million) in Bitcoin which were locked in an online black hole after his death. Miller Thomson LLP sent a letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Friday, requesting authorities “conduct an exhumation and postmortem autopsy” on the body of Gerald Cotten, founder of QuadrigaCX, citing what the firm called the “questionable circumstances” around his death earlier this year, The Irish Times reported.

Mexican carrier Jaguar Transportation stopped its trucking services this morning (Dec. 10) and could be shutting down as part of Celadon's U.S. chapter 11 filing on Dec. 9, FreightWaves reported. Several freight and logistics professionals confirmed to FreightWaves that cross-border account representatives for Jaguar Transportation said that they had ceased services. At one of the company's locations, the news prompted drivers who feared they would not be paid to block access to scores of trucks and trailers.

Alberta may consider buying back some of its bonds in an effort to smooth its maturities as its debt outstanding rises, Bloomberg News reported. The buy-back strategy, including terms and amounts, is still under analysis, according to Jerrica Goodwin, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman at Alberta’s finance ministry said. The plan, which may start as soon as the next fiscal year beginning in April, won’t reduce overall debt outstanding but could allow Alberta to spread out maturities over the longer term, she said.