Commercial printer Blue Star Group has won the support of bond holders for a debt restructuring after saying the alternative was receivership, but the "close call" for hundreds of workers has angered the union representing them, The New Zealand Herald reported. Bond holders voted 76.9 per cent in favour of the refinancing proposal, surpassing the 75 per cent required.

The chairman of the $75 billion Future Fund has warned the debt crisis engulfing Europe and the United States could take at least 20 years to resolve, causing ongoing market volatility, The Australian reported. David Murray warned the post-global financial crisis environment would continue to be characterised by a series of market shocks, with investor uncertainty heightened by concerns over the ability of political systems to contain any emerging meltdown.

Receivers for Yarrows the Bakers say the business has attracted considerable interest from potential buyers as their first report highlights significant debt across the wider group, The National Business Review reported. Yarrows the Bakers and two associated companies went into receivership in May when the company’s directors could not reach agreement on a restructure proposal that involved selling its Australian business.

Shadow broker Kinetic Securities is to appoint administrators Monday in a collapse its directors blame on the global financial crisis, sluggish post-GFC low-volume market conditions and increasing regulatory requirements, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The appointment of voluntary administrators, expected to be Ferrier Hodgson, comes just weeks after the corporate regulator suspended its Australian Financial Services Licence then reinstated it and follows a move by a creditor to wind it up.

The U.S. credit-rating downgrade is piling more pressure on China to move away from an export-reliant economy that has produced mountains of currency reserves in declining dollars, though Chinese politicians, like those in Washington, often struggle to confront tough policy decisions needed to drive change, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some analysts say that harsh Chinese rhetoric aimed at the U.S. following the downgrade of U.S.

Yet another fashion retailer has collapsed in the midst of the worst trading conditions in 50 years, with Brown Sugar placed in voluntary administration putting the future of 50 full-time staff and 170 part-time crew in doubt, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Deloitte Corporate Reorganisation Group, Sal Algeri and Tim Norman, have been named as joint voluntary administrators to the clothing group which has 40 stores in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it settled $20 billion of intercompany claims with liquidators for Lehman Hong Kong and won the affiliate’s support for its liquidation plan, Bloomberg reported. Details of the agreement, which is subject to court approval in the U.S. and Hong Kong, weren’t provided in Lehman’s statement today. Edward Middleton, a partner at KPMG China and one of the Hong Kong liquidators, said in the statement that the settlement will benefit creditors by speeding liquidations.

Whitcoulls creditors have voted in favour of a pittiful 3c in the dollar return instead of liquidating the company that owes them $21.5 million, The National Business Review reported. Unsecured creditors have just voted with an overwhelming majority of 84% in favour of a return of just 3c at a watershed meeting with Australian-based administrators Ferrier Hodgson in Auckland. Ferrier Hodgson asked the unsecured creditors of Whitcoulls' parent company Red Group Retail to accept 3 cents in the dollar, instead of liquidation, in a deed of company arrangement (DOCA).

Chinese firms must get approval from bond investors before they restructure their assets, China's top economic planning agency said, in a move aimed at containing default risks from its pile of local government debt. The order by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirms a Reuters report last week and thwarts any plan by indebted local governments to move assets out of their affiliated firms when they struggle to repay loans.

Kevin Podmore has been given three months to come up with $20 million to help repay investors in his failed Wellington finance company, St Laurence, or face possible bankruptcy, Stuff.co.nz reported. St Laurence was put in receivership in April last year owing 9400 investors $245m plus interest. Podmore and three companies he controlled had offered a $20m guarantee as part of an earlier moratorium repayment agreement, to cover any shortfall in repayments to investors if St Laurence was put in receivership.