An insolvent or struggling business can become bankrupt, or it can seek to preserve value by restructuring and/or being sold as a going concern. These proceedings are fast-paced and involve many competing interests. Experienced legal counsel is essential.
We are recognized as having expertise and a creative approach to dealing with challenging, complex and often multi-jurisdictional insolvency and restructuring mandates. We have acted for various stakeholders, such as debtor corporations, secured lenders, creditors’ committees, suppliers, trustees, monitors, interim-receivers, receivers, directors and officers.
By way of example, our previous mandates have included:
- restructuring of a debtor corporation by renegotiation of debt to restore liquidity;
- compromise of debt achieved by proposals and plans of arrangement;
- purchase and sale of the debtor’s assets or business as a going concern;
- recovering unpaid goods delivered prior to insolvency proceedings;
- implementation of claims processes;
- opposing invalid claims made in insolvency proceedings and recovering payments made in connection therewith;
- replacement of trustees; and
- defending directors from claims made by creditors of the debtor corporation.
Representative examples of high-profile insolvency files in which our firm has played an active role in recent years include:
| Debtor | Client |
| 4519922 Canada Inc. (Coopers & Lybrand) | Creditors’ Committee and major creditors |
| ABC Containerline, N.V. (Belgium) | Trustee in Belgium |
| Abitibi Bowater Inc. | Monitor |
| Air Canada | Holders of subordinated perpetual debt |
| Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. | Suppliers of aircraft parts |
| Bassé Frères | Debtor |
| Dominion Investments (Nassau) Ltd. | Liquidator |
| Dominion Metal & Refining Works Ltd. | Secured creditor/Trustee |
| Homburg Invest Inc. | Office landlord |
| Jetsgo Corporation | Aircraft lessors |
| Laura’s Shoppe (P.V.) Inc. | Monitor |
| Minco-Division Construction Inc. | Debtor |
| Norshield/Olympus United Group | Receiver/Monitor |
| Olympia & York Developments Ltd. | Debtor/Reichmann family |
| Olympus Univest/Mosaic Composite | Joint Official Liquidator |
| Perrette Inc. | Debtor |
| Pneutech-Rousseau Inc. | Secured creditor/Debtor |
| Wabush Mines et al. | Salaried employees and retirees |
| Yellow Media Inc. | Subordinated debentureholders |
| Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald Corp |
Quebec Class Action Plaintiffs |