AbitibiBowater Files for Bankruptcy Protection

MONTREAL—Saddled with more than $6 billion in debt and facing drastically shrinking demand for its newsprint, paper producer AbitibiBowater has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, and plans to seek protection in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. The company was forced to terminate a $1.8 billion debt exchange offer for its Bowater subsidiary earlier this month when lenders would not provide sufficient support. It had also also been trying to restructure $2.4 billion in debt from its Abitibi-Consolidated unit.