Asia Pacific

A group of companies trading under the CEA banner--owning 20 mainly southern hotels and bars, and employing about 300 people--have been placed in the hands of receivers, The New Zealand Herald reported. Details issued about 5pm yesterday by the receivers, McGrath Nicol Partners in Auckland, were sparse and did not include a list of the 20 hotels. It is understood several Otago bars are under the CEA umbrella. They include the Speights Ale House and Shooters Bar in Wanaka and the Frankton Arm Tavern in Queenstown.

With the economic slump prolonged, more and more firms and individuals have become unable to service their debt payments and are filing for court receivership or debt rescheduling programs, The Korea Times reported. According to the Seoul Central District Court, a total of 72 local firms filed for court receivership in the first three months of this year, up 243 percent from the same period last year. The number of filings reached 21 each in the first and second quarter of last year.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. reported a 28% fall in fiscal first-half net profit amid escalating charges for bad loans, The Wall Street Journal reported. The lender also warned Wednesday that the outlook for bad loans remains difficult extending into 2010, forcing it to concede full-year provisions will be higher than previously expected. Australia's fourth biggest bank by market value said net profit fell to A$1.42 billion (US$1 billion) in the six months ended March 31 from A$1.96 billion a year earlier.

The holding company for Norwegian-based tape storage company Tandberg Data filed for bankruptcy in its home country court on April 24 after it could not cover a loan payment to New York City-based Cyrus Capital, eWeek reported. Tandberg, a major OEM for both IBM and Hewlett-Packard, becomes the first major storage supplier to file for bankruptcy protection since the recession began last summer. As a result of the legal action, Cyrus Capital will acquire the assets of the company and become majority owner. The new operational HQ for the company will be in Dortmund, Germany.

One of New Zealand’s oldest brands is in the hands of receivers, The National Business Review reported. Clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin Industries is headquartered in Christchurch and employs hundreds of staff in New Zealand and Australia. It went into receivership this afternoon at the behest of its bankers Westpac, understood to be owed more than $50 million. BDO Spicers has been appointed as receiver. Lane Walker Rudkin was established in 1904, and supplied the All Blacks uniform for most of the 20th century through the Canterbury brand it founded.

One of Australia's most extraordinary business stories of the past few decades is the spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall of the ABC Learning Group, analysis by The New Zealand Herald found. ABC began with one centre in Brisbane in 1988. By 2007 it had used hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, shareholders and banks to grow into the world's second-biggest childcare operator with more than 2300 centres in Australia, the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. In 2007, it reported profits of more than $150 million.

Australian tourism group Stella, which owns the Harvey World Travel and United Travel brands in New Zealand, has rejected a report in an Australian newspaper claiming the company is close to collapse, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Australian yesterday said it understood accountants close to UBS, Stella's main banker, had recommended it place Stella into receivership or sell assets immediately to stem losses. UBS supported private equity player CVC Asia Pacific in buying two-thirds of the tourism business last year from the now-collapsed Gold Coast financier MFS.

The global Stella tourism empire, which owns the Harvey World Travel chain and manages one in five Gold Coast holiday apartments, is in danger of collapse, threatening to cost banking giant UBS hundreds of millions of dollars. Private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific and UBS are understood to have lost up to $1 billion on Stella after buying two-thirds of the struggling giant last year from the now-collapsed high-risk Gold Coast financier MFS. Stella today denied that it had been advised to appoint receivers.

Listed Propertyfinance Group's principal subsidiary Propertyfinance Securities (PFS) has applied for a High Court injunction to temporarily halt its trustee Covenant Trustee Company from being able to appoint receivers, The New Zealand Herald reported. The injunction is being sought until PFS can hold a previously announced special meeting of stockholders.

Fiat will sign on Tuesday a letter of intent to buy a majority stake in General Motors' struggling Opel unit, the website of German magazine Spiegel said on Thursday, citing sources. GM is also in constructive talks with Austria's Magna Steyr, said the website, without saying where it obtained the information. The carmaker and Germany's economy ministry prefer a speedy agreement with Fiat, reported Spiegel Online, which has separate editorial staff from the magazine. It cited people close to the negotiations.