Quebecor World creditors take legal action over lender payments

Creditors of battered print giant Quebecor World have taken legal action to reclaim $376m (209m) paid to 14 private lenders in the run up to its bankruptcy.

The claim, which seeks permission from US bankruptcy judge James Peck to sue a number of companies including Barclays and Deutsche Bank, alleged that the North American printer paid the sum to the lenders to redeem its debt.

It proposed that, as the sale was made less than 90 days before it filed for bankruptcy, the money should be returned to the estate and form part of the creditors' repayment package.

The creditors claim that the repayment is more than the 14 lenders would have received in the event of a liquidation of the company, Bloomsberg reported.

Quebecor entered bankruptcy in January this year and closed its UK operation shortly after.