CHRONOLOGY: Twists and turns in Canada ABCP saga

TORONTO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a restructuring plan covering C$32 billion ($30.2 billion) worth of Canadian asset-backed commercial paper.

Here is a chronology of the year-long effort to revive the ABCP market after it seized up in the summer of 2007. The market came to be known as one for "nonbank" ABCP since the affected commercial paper trusts were set up by third-party financial companies, not by the country's biggest banks.

-- Aug. 13, 2007 - Structured finance firm Coventree Inc COF.TO says it cannot sell new asset-backed commercial paper notes, cites "unfavorable market conditions" resulting from U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

-- Aug. 14, 2007 - Coventree says some of its ABCP trusts were refused emergency funding from liquidity providers.

-- Aug. 16, 2007 - Ten market players meet in Montreal, propose to freeze ABCP market for 60 days. They form a committee to devise a way to fix the crunch. The 10 players are pension fund managers Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and PSP Investments, international banks ABN Amro AMAF.AS, Barclays Capital (BARC.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), HSBC (HSBA.L), UBS (UAG.P) and Merrill Lynch MER.N, plus domestic players Desjardins Group and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO). The Caisse turns out to be the biggest ABCP holder with C$13 billion tied up.

-- Aug. 20, 2007 - National Bank says will buy C$2 billion of affected ABCP from its mutual funds and small clients.

-- Sept. 6, 2007 - ABCP committee adds other big investors, corporate lawyer Purdy Crawford named committee leader.

-- Sept. 27, 2007 - Crawford warns of complexities in converting short-term paper, issued by 22 different trusts, into longer-term debt.

-- November 2007 - Illiquid market prompts scores of Canadian companies and government agencies to take writedowns on their ABCP holdings.

-- Dec. 20, 2007 - C$2 billion Skeena Capital Trust is successfully restructured.

-- Dec. 23, 2007 - Crawford-led investor committee says it expects to complete final proposal by mid-March.

-- March 17, 2008 - Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin Campbell grants bankruptcy protection to 20 ABCP trusts. Court application says restructuring is unprecedented in scope, magnitude and complexity.

-- March 2008 - Two firms, Canaccord Capital and Credential Securities, reveal they have about 1,800 retail clients stuck with frozen ABCP. Individual investors had been ignored in market-repair negotiations until this point.

-- March/April 2008 - Angry retail investors pepper Purdy Crawford with questions, complaints at public meetings.

-- April 9, 2008 - Canaccord says will repurchase ABCP notes from most retail clients if restructuring occurs.

-- April 2008 - Companies stuck with ABCP complain to court about plan's restriction on lawsuits. Justice Campbell decides investor vote can proceed.