The Ontario Superior Court has postponed a motion by Sears Canada Inc. retirees and employees to wind up the company’s defined benefit pension plan.
On Tuesday, Justice Glenn Hainey issued an order noting the court wouldn’t hear the motion before Nov. 30, 2017 but suggesting it would otherwise “proceed as expeditiously as possible.”
In the meantime, he ordered that any party seeking to file a motion for Sears Canada’s bankruptcy before he deals with the pension windup motion would require permission from the court. Hainey also ordered there should be “no distributions to other creditors” prior to the determination of the windup motion.
Read: Sears Canada retirees launch motion to force windup of pension plan
In August, counsel for the employees and retirees filed a motion seeking a plan windup to secure pension benefits as the proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act continue. At its most recent actuarial valuation as of Dec. 31, 2015, the plan had a windup ratio of 81 per cent. Information posted on the website of the monitor for the restructuring, FTI Consulting Inc., showed the plan had a going-concern surplus of $28.9 million and a deficit on a windup basis of $266.8 million as of the 2015 valuation.