pierrelebel wrote: Another big one in USA:
Conseco > Date of filing: December 17, 2002
> Type of filing: Chapter 11
> Asset value: $61.39 billion
Conseco was an insurance and finance company at the time of its filing and was able to negotiate a deal with its bondholders that made them the owners of the surviving company for about $1.9 billion in equity. Policyholders did not lose any cash, but holders of common stock received nothing.
In Canada I can think of Olympia & York (the Reichmann family). In May 1992 the company filed for bankruptcy and it owed over 20 billion dollars to various banks and investors. The company was finally dismembered in February 1993, and the Reichmanns were left with only a small rump known as Olympia & York Properties Corporation. The new company has again grown into a multibillion-dollar firm, including retaining a large stake of the now prosperous Canary Wharf project.
Then there is Eaton's. The T. Eaton Co. first filed for bankruptcy protection in 1997. At the time, the company had an estimated 24,500 employees and over 90 retail outlets. The plan was to close 31 underperforming stores, including two-thirds of its stores in Alberta. However, Eaton's limited the number of store closures to 20. George Eaton, the last of the family to be involved in management, resigned as chief executive in 1997, being succeeded by George Kosich. In September of that year, creditors approved the restructuring plan.
In 1998, George Kosich resigned as chairman of the board and was succeeded by Brent Ballantyne, under whom the company was taken public for the first time in its history, issuing 11.7 million common shares at $15 each, while the Eaton family retained control with a 51 percent stake.
The chain finally folded in 1999 after operating for 130 years. Though it had reduced its retail outlets to 64, it finished 1998 with a net loss of $72 million, and it announced further closures and a corporate restructuring plan. This was unsuccessful and the company went bankrupt in August 1999.
And Steinberg's. The Steinberg's stores were absorbed and converted by its competitors, while the M locations closed outright as no buyer could be found for them. The last Steinberg's stores closed on September 5, 1992.
Although Steinberg's, Miracle Mart/M, Miracle Food Mart, Valdi and Cardinal Distributors are now defunct, Sam Steinberg is survived by his real estate company Ivanhoe (which absorbed Cambridge Shopping Centres Ltd in 2001 to become Ivanhoe Cambridge). His restaurant chain Pik-Nik, founded in 1966, lasted until the mid-2010s.
And so many more....