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UPDATE 2-Quebecor World gets court OKs on reorg plan

Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:36pm EDT

* Canadian reorganization plan approved

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* U.S. plan to be confirmed as early as Wednesday

* Quebecor sees July bankruptcy exit (Adds results of U.S. confirmation hearing, quotes)

By Emily Chasan and Phil Wahba

NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - Bankrupt commercial printer Quebecor World Inc IQW.TO on Tuesday gained approval of its bankruptcy reorganization plan from judges in the United States and Canada, clearing the way for the company to exit bankruptcy protection.

Judge Robert Mongeon of the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal said during a joint hearing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan that he would sanction the company's plan under the Canadian Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan also overruled objections to the company's reorganization plan on Tuesday and said he would formally approve the plan as early as Wednesday, pending the submission of an order from the company's lawyers.

Quebecor World, which expects to emerge from its insolvency proceedings in July, prints books, magazines, directories and advertising materials. It filed for court protection in January 2008 and has about 20,000 employees.

In a rare joint cross-border hearing conducted via video teleconference, Judge Peck also gave U.S. recognition to the Canadian court's ruling on the reorganization plan.

Judge Peck said the Quebecor bankruptcy has been a "vastly complex" cross-border bankruptcy case, and that he believed the reorganization was on the verge of being "a great success."

"This was not a hurry up case," Peck told the court, noting the company did not file a prepackaged bankruptcy, and was not pressured by lenders to quickly sell itself.

"This is a classic, increasingly rare Chapter 11 -- a stand-alone reorganization," Peck said.

Under Quebecor World's reorganization plan the company says it has deleveraged its balance sheet and recapitalized the company. The company has said its restructuring plan does not include any recovery for much of the company's equity including its "multiple voting shares," "subordinate voting shares" and "redeemable first preferred shares."

Last week, the Montreal-based company said about 86.4 percent of all voting creditors across classes had voted to accept the company's third amended U.S. reorganization plan.

Creditors approving the U.S. plan represented 88.9 percent, or $1.82 billion, of the total dollar value of claims voted.

The company's second amended and restated Canadian plan of reorganization was approved by about 96 percent of the affected creditors, representing about 89 percent of the total value of claims voted.

During the court hearing on Tuesday some members of the company's bank syndicate lenders challenged several technical aspects of Quebecor's reorganization plan, despite having earlier voted in favor of the plan. The bank syndicate said certain agreements they had expected were missing from the plan presented to the court.

Judge Peck said the bank syndicate was causing "an unnecessary crisis" that could upend the company's reorganization and restructuring efforts.

The U.S. and Canadian courts asked the bank syndicate to negotiate with the company and its other lender groups and set a July 13 court date to hear any remaining issues related to the bank syndicate's concerns on the reorganization plan.

(Reporting by Emily Chasan and Phil Wahba, editing by Matthew Lewis and Richard Chang)



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