
Real estate firm Avison Young nears restructure post default
BNN Bloomberg
Real estate services firm Avison Young (Canada) Inc. said it’s close to a restructuring that will clean up its balance sheet after it defaulted on a senior term loan, causing a ratings downgrade.
Toronto-based Avison Canada missed principal and interest payments in the third and fourth quarters of 2023, S&P Global Ratings said in a statement Friday, downgrading the firm to “SD” for selective default. S&P’s action was expected, company spokeswoman Andrea Zviedris said by email.
“We are going to just eliminate significantly more than 50 per cent of all of our obligations,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Rose said in an interview with Bloomberg on Saturday, adding that Avison’s board will also shed non-independent directors.
The company was preparing to announce the restructure as soon as Monday and updated the ratings agencies on its plans. At that point, S&P said it was then obliged to inform the market immediately, though it didn’t provide a full picture of the company’s position, Rose said.

Oil tankers are crossing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s actions to choke traffic through the shipping route have not hurt the U.S. economy, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday, reiterating the Trump administration’s position that the war should be over in weeks, not months.

Daily oil exports from the Middle Eastern Gulf, home to top exporter Saudi Arabia and other major producers, have dropped by at least 60 per cent in the week to March 15 compared to February due to disruptions and output cuts amid the U.S.-Iran war, according to shipping data and Reuters calculations.











