U.S. Steel motions to extend creditor protection deadline
CBC News | Posted: April 28, 2015 6:34 PM | Last Updated: April 28, 2015
Motion filed Monday seeks to extend restructing deadline to September
Lawyers for U.S. Steel filed a motion Monday to extend creditor protection beyond the existing May 15 deadline while it undergoes restructuring and looks for purchase offers of its Canadian operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke.
Meanwhile, all parties are still waiting for the court's decision on a push by the city of Hamilton and the steelworkers union to unseal a secret deal the company made with the federal government.
In the latest of a series of routine motions motions that will be heard May 7, U.S. Steel is looking to extend the stay period for its Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCCA) bankruptcy protection proceedings, which it entered last September citing years of loses totalling some $2.4 billion since 2009. The company's goal is to sell its Canadian operations by the end of October, 2015.
- Will courts agree to keep U.S. Steel deal with Ottawa secret?
- Court to hear sale plan for U.S. Steel plants in Hamilton, Nanticoke
- U.S. Steel making money while restructuring
In the affidavit filed Monday, Bill Aziz of BlueTree Advisors II Inc., the chief restructuring officer of U.S. Steel Canada (USSC), said the company is seeking an extension of creditor protection to Sept. 11, 2015, although Aziz notes USSC "is expecting to extend (the stay period) beyond September, 2015."
This is the third extension of the stay period, which comes after the sale and restructuring of processes was given the green light by the courts, and after last week's arguments, in which lawyers for the steelworkers union and the city argued for the release of a "secret deal" that prompted the federal government to pull it's lawsuit with U.S. Steel, after it reneged on promises to keep the Canadian steel plants open after USS bought Stelco in 2007.
Last week, Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel said a written decision would be posted to the court monitor's website within a week
As the CCCA process continues, financial reports on the business are continually released through a monitor. In January, the reports showed the company was making money with a positive cash flow of $85.4 million. At the end of March, the latest court monitor's report showed the company had lost $46.2 million since the previous report in January, leaving the company with $141.4 million in cash. Foreign currency exchange and the fall of oil prices were listed as "significant" impacts.