Federal Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said a loan offer would constitute a commercial advantage for the Canadian company which would inflame the ongoing softwood lumber dispute with the United States, the Globe and Mail reported.
The company employs 15,800 people, 11,000 of them in Canada. The rest are in the United States, Britain and South Korea.
Thursday, in a release from its Montreal headquarters, the company said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, and would do the same under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act Friday.
AbitibiBowater has debts of more than $6 billion and during its restructuring, some pension payments have been frozen, the Globe said.
Company spokesman Seth Kursman told the newspaper there are more than 40 pension plans involved, some of which were inherited from predecessor companies.
"A quick and easy answer is virtually impossible because each situation is different," he said.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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