Printer Quebecor World to emerge from bankruptcy

Quebecor World, one of the largest printers in the world and a major printer of magazines, says it is about to emerge from bankruptcy protection that was put in place January 2008. A restructuring has allowed the company to recapitalize and the announcement came after a year of negotiations with creditors.

"This is a consensual agreement among the three main creditor constituencies - the banks, the bondholders and the unsecured creditors," Quebecor World spokesman Tony Ross said yesterday.

The company plans to file an official plan of reorganization in Canada and in the U.S. by the end of Apriland hopes to exit all forms of creditor protection by mid-July.

When Quebecor secured creditor protection its lawyers said the company was only days away from a complete liquidity collapse, without sufficient cash to cover its payroll. One of the drastic measures it took after going into protection was to cut 12% of its workforce. Parent company Quebecor Inc. essentially cut its ties with its printing arm.

Last month, Quebecor reported it had halved its net loss in 2008 from continuing operations to $943.9 million from $1.8 billion in 2007.