(Greater Sudbury) The Ontario Superior Court on Wednesday approved the restructuring plan presented by Laurentian University as the Sudbury institution seeks to emerge from court protection from its creditors.
Posted yesterday at 4:20 p.m.
This court approval will allow it to proceed with the implementation of the Plan of Arrangements, which had been approved by the creditors on September 14.
The university says the court’s approval means it is now “weeks away from a successful discharge” under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
Laurentian University says this implementation will mean it has successfully emerged from the restructuring “as a financially viable university”, and that this milestone “should provide reassurance to those applying for admission to Laurentian”.
In a report released earlier this year on the situation at Laurentian University, the Auditor General of Ontario, Bonnie Lysyk, concluded that the bilingual university could have avoided creditor protection if it had been more transparent with the government about its financial difficulties.
Mme Lysyk mainly blamed “continued ill-considered capital spending” for the deterioration of the university’s financial situation from 2010 to 2020.
The University of Northern Ontario had filed for court protection from its creditors in early 2021, citing long-term debt and declining revenue due to COVID-19.