Canwest Newspapers' Bankruptcy Extended to June 30 BusinessWeek
(Adds lawyer’s comment in fourth paragraph.)
By Joe Schneider
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s insolvent newspaper division won an extension of bankruptcy protection until June 30 to let it complete an auction for the publications.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Sarah Pepall granted the extension today following a hearing in Toronto. The bankruptcy protection, first granted Jan. 8, was due to expire April 14.
Canwest Global agreed to sell Canwest Ltd. Partnership, the newspaper division, to a group of banks in exchange for $828 million of debt unless it gets a higher cash bid or an offer acceptable to the lenders. Qualified bidders are touring Canwest facilities and conducting other research, according to court documents.
“Everybody, I think, is anxious to see what happens” with the sales process, Canwest lawyer Lyndon Barnes told the judge at today’s hearing. “At this stage, we don’t know” whether the company will get a better offer, he said.
