From MuskokaUnlimited.com: Metroland Proposal to Creditors ready for vote
From MuskokaUnlimited.com:
Metroland Media is ready to make a proposal to their creditors through a Zoom meeting scheduled for November 14, 2023.
This is part of the TorStar subsidiary’s bankruptcy claim that includes, as first reported first by Muskoka Unlimited in Metroland owes $16M to employees, the $74,245,033.82 owing to creditors with $16 million of that number owed to 605 staff members they cut ties with in September.
Information is regularly updated on Grant Thornton LLP’s website, which is the firm handling the Metroland proposal to creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act as they ceased operating 71 community newspapers (though continue to operate online entities “in” those communities).
The proposal means that not every creditor (including many employees) will not receive full compensation.
According to the proposal found on the Grant Thornton LLP website, “Secured Creditors are not affected. The claims of Secured Creditors will be addressed pursuant to the terms of the written arrangements with those parties or as otherwise agreed between the Company and the Secured Creditors.”
While different for each person, the proposal states that former employees of Metroland will receive the maximum entitlement under the Wage Earners Protection Program Act (Canada) plus approximately 13 cents on the dollar for the balance of their claims.
“This means that certain employees will receive a full recovery of their claim (employees with smaller claims) while others will receive a partial recovery,” according to the proposal document.
Other unsecured creditors (non-former employees), are set to received about 13 cents on the dollar should this proposal be accepted by both the Metroland creditors and approved by the court of law and all aspects be fully performed.
Along with the court approval process, Metroland “anticipates bringing an application before the Superior Court of Justice for WEPP to apply” to all unsecured parties that, if approved, would “increase the estimated distribution on the balance of Former Employee Claims and Unsecured Creditors from approximately 13 cents to approximately 26 cents on the dollar.”
Read more about the proposal and how Metroland is still receiving federal funding to pay for a journalist while not having to pay their full compensation to the staff they cut ties with at: https://muskokaunlimited.com/2023/11/06/update-metroland-proposal-to-creditors-ready-for-vote/
