Loewen

A host of lawyers have teamed up in an attempt to keep B. C. based funeral home and cemetery management services provider, The Loewen Group Inc. , from going under itself. On June 1, 1999 Loewen filed what has become the largest concurrent company cross-border filing in North America under Chapter 11 in the U. S. and the CCAA in Canada. Loewen owes over U. S. $4 bn. to its various creditors. A key to Loewen’s continued survival has been the negotiation and provision of a DIP financing facility of U. S. $200 million which is being funded by First Union National Bank. First Union’s Canadian bankruptcy counsel consists of a team from the Toronto office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt being led by Steven G. Golick and Edward A. Sellers. Loewen’s outside bankruptcy counsel is a team from Toronto’s Meighen Demers led by Derrick Tay and Ian Ness.

Counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the U. S. is the Hartford, Connecticut law firm Hebb & Gitlin. Canadian Counsel to the Committee is being provided by Toronto’s Fasken Campbell Godfrey where Ronald Robertson, Q. C. and Jonathan Levin are taking the lead. The financial adviser to Loewen and monitor under the Canadian proceedings is KPMG Inc.

Canadian counsel to KPMG Inc. is being provided by Geoffrey Morawetz from the Toronto office of Goodman Phillips & Vineberg. Counsel to the Bank Syndicate in Canada is being provided by William Chambers of the Toronto office of Fraser Milner. Counsel to a syndicate of creditor banks in the United States is Bruce Leonard of Cassels, Brock & Blackwell. Under the original filing, Loewen is expected to file its plan of arrangement on or before December 1, 1999.