Teleglobe Communications Corporation
March 2, 2005
Compass Advisers, LLP ("Compass") provided financial advisory services to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the "Creditors Committee") during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring of Teleglobe Communications Corporation ("Teleglobe"). At the time, Teleglobe was a subsidiary of Bell Canada Enterprises and a leading provider of international voice, wireless, roaming and data/IP services with over 50 years of industry expertise in international telecommunications. U.S. operations were based in Reston, Virginia, and Canadian headquarters were based in Montreal, Quebec.
Teleglobe initially filed for bankruptcy under the CCAA in Canada (historically, one of Canada's largest bankruptcies), and tried to avoid a bankruptcy filing in the U.S., but was forced to file Chapter 11. The Monitor in the Canadian proceedings had significant involvement in both the U.S. and Canadian cases, and oversaw the allocation of values between the Canadian and U.S. estates. The primary issue was whether U.S. creditors would receive an equitable distribution of the estate's assets.
When Compass was engaged to advise the Creditors Committee, Teleglobe had already determined to wind down its global expansion plans to its North American Routed International Voice and Data Telecommunications Services Business (the "Core Telecom Business") and to market that business for sale. Compass immediately set out to verify the rationale for that decision and, once verified, assisted in the sale process with the objective of enhancing recoveries to the unsecured creditors.
Upon completion of the sale of the Core Telecom Business, Compass turned its attention to the allocation of proceeds from the sale. Initially, the Monitor proposed very little of the sale proceeds (15%) to the U.S. estates. Compass played an important role in protecting the assets of the U.S. estate and ensuring a proper process was employed in determining and negotiating an equitable allocation of value between the Canadian and U.S. estates, resulting in a significant increase for the U.S. creditors.
Through Compass' efforts, the final allocation of the Core Telecom Business sales proceeds was increased to 42.8%, or $53.1 million, representing 96% of the initial distribution to the Class 1C Creditors defined in the Teleglobe Disclosure Statement. The negotiated settlement became the basis for the Sales Proceeds Allocation Agreement which was incorporated in the Disclosure Statement. The First Amended Joint Plan of Liquidation was confirmed by the bankruptcy court, and Teleglobe exited Chapter 11 on March 2, 2005.