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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Homburg seeks court OK to call meeting of creditors to vote on restructuring

By: The Canadian Press

Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 at 1:48 PM | Comments: 0

MONTREAL - Insolvent commercial real estate company Homburg Invest Inc. says it's seeking approval to call a meeting of its creditors to vote on its restructuring plan.

The company says it will ask for a court order on Feb. 28 to mail all relevant information about the plan, which has been filed with the Superior Court of Quebec, to creditors and call a meeting.

Homburg said Friday that the plan will provide creditors with cash and equity in a new entity that will have 72 buildings with a total fair market value of some 605 million euro.

It says nearly three quarters of the value would be derived from assets in Germany, and the head office would be in the Netherlands.

The company also said several companies have expressed interest in participating in its restructuring. Homburg did not give specifics except to say it's in the process of signing confidentiality agreements to give those firms access to financial information.

In January, there were reports that private equity group Cataylst Capital Group had made a partial tender offer to certain bondholders of Homburg.

Catalyst specializes in distressed and undervalued assets.

Homburg has office, retail, industrial and development properties in Canada, Europe and the United States.

At one time, the company's holdings included a stake in Homburg Canada Real Estate Investment Trust which had properties primarily in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Richard Homburg, who founded the companies, quit his positions at Homburg REIT in March 2011. He later attempted to take Homburg Invest private but withdrew from that plan while the company was under fire from regulators in the Netherlands.

One of his private companies also sued Homburg Invest, claiming $27 million in damages for the termination of a property and asset management agreement.

Homburg REIT was later renamed Canmarc REIT. Under that name, it sold its 1,261 residential units in Atlantic Canada before it was acquired by Montreal-based Cominar REIT (TSX:CUF.UN) in a $905-million deal last year.

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