Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words agreed+provide. 2 news.

CANADA'S non-bank asset-backed commercial paper market will start trading for the first time in four months after a deal was struck between investors holding about C$33 billion (US$33.3 billion) of the short-term debt. The group, led by Toronto lawyer Purdy Crawford, agreed yesterday to swap the commercial paper for longer-term notes, ending a suspension in trading prompted by investor concern about ties to US subprime mortgages. "I am confident that this plan will provide most holders of outstanding commercial paper with the opportunity to receive the full repayment of principal by holding restructured notes to maturity," Crawford said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News yesterday. The Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper sold by non-bank dealers ground to a halt in August after Coventree Inc and other trusts failed to renew maturing debt. Banks refused to provide backup financing, freezing the market and putting funds at risk of collapsing, even

General Dynamics of Falls Church said last week that it has agreed to provide six portable combat operations centers to upper-level Marine Corps commands under a $38 million modification of an existing contract.