TORONTO – Canwest may have won the latest battle, but a full fledged war appears inevitable with its investment partner Goldman Sachs.
An Ontario Superior Court judge has denied Goldman’s request seeking to overturn the windup of a numbered holding company of Canwest’s which, in turn, held the shares of CW Investments. CW Investments was created by both companies in order to buy the 13 specialty TV channels from Alliance Atlantis in 2007.
The Wall Street investment bank objected to changes that CanWest made to its corporate structure and the specialty TV unit prior to Canwest’s filing for creditor protection on October 6.
In her decision, Madam Justice Sarah Pepall said that if the stay was lifted, “the prejudice to CMI would be great” and the steps proposed by Goldman would “extraordinarily disruptive” to Canwest’s restructuring process.
She also suggested that the two companies seek a “commercial resolution” to settle their differences.
– Lesley Hunter
