Revised Proposal in Bankruptcy of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Approved
TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2023 /CNW/ - A Meeting of Creditors was held today to consider the Revised Proposal in Bankruptcy of Metroland Media Group Ltd. ("Metroland"). Koskie Minsky LLP is the court-appointed Representative Counsel to the non-unionized employees and voted in favour of the revised Proposal. The Proposal Trustee reported that the requisite double-majority of creditor votes was achieved, and the Proposal passed the vote.
The Revised Proposal contains a condition precedent that relates to the obtaining of additional payments from the Wage Earner Protection Program ("WEPP") for all the terminated employees. WEPP is an important program of the federal government for employees that currently pays up to $8278.83 to each eligible terminated employee in respect of unpaid wages and severance pay. Representative Counsel is continuing to work actively with the company and the Proposal Trustee to confirm that WEPP applies to these proceedings and hopes to have that confirmed soon.
Andrew Hatnay of Koskie Minsky states: "The Revised Proposal that passed today substantially improves the outcomes for the terminated employees from the initial Proposal and is the best overall result for them in the circumstances. It reflects weeks of extensive negotiations that Representative Counsel had with the company, the Proposal Trustee and others. These negotiations resulted in significant increases to the employees' severance calculations, a new pension claim for all terminated employees to be paid in priority to other claims, and the condition precedent for the availability of WEPP. The approval of the Revised Proposal also allows Metroland to proceed with its restructuring with the hope of saving the jobs of over 400 continuing employees."
Andrew Hatnay led the Koskie Minsky team comprised of Martin Ejidra and Abir Shamim.
SOURCE Koskie Minsky LLP
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