Struggling paper, packaging and signage merchant PaperlinX has announced more restructuring and cost cuts in its business in the United Kingdom in response to depressed trading conditions in Europe, The Australian reported. The company said on Thursday that the UK restructuring would cost $3 million, but combined with cost cuts, would deliver $13 million in annual benefits.

Australian business conditions deteriorated last month to levels not seen since the global financial crisis, as a mining slowdown weighed on the country's resources-dominated economy, a private-sector survey showed Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. National Australia Bank's index of business conditions—which tracks indicators such as goods orders, employment and profitability—fell two points to minus-5 in October from September, the lowest level since May 2009 when world financial markets were in turmoil.

The Victorian Government says it has been given an assurance from the receivers of the financial group Banksia Securities that investors will get some of their money back, ABC News reported. A Government working group convened to provide help to those who have been affected by the collapse of Banksia met for the first time yesterday. Banksia went into receivership last month owing $660 million, much of which had been invested by regional Victorians. The chairman of the working group, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, says the receivers cannot say what percentage of investors' money will be returned.

The travel plans of thousands of Australians this summer are up in the air after Classic International Cruises was placed into voluntary administration today, The Australian reported. Lawler Partners was this morning appointed voluntary administrators and customers with cruises booked on the MV Athena cruise ship are being urged to contact them to make a claim. The company had been in talks to replace the Athena with a German ship after it was impounded in France over debts, but talks in Europe broke down.

One of the state's biggest construction companies has collapsed, with more than 500 creditors believed to be owed millions of dollars, the Herald Sun reported. Southern Cross Constructions yesterday appointed accounting firm Cor Cordis as administrators despite four major projects in NSW still to be completed. While administrators say the majority of projects remain close to completion, the future of the company's 39 employees remains uncertain.

Nine Entertainment has avoided receivership, with the company's warring lenders reaching an agreement in principle this afternoon, The Australian reported. The US hedge funds Apollo and Oaktree, which are the biggest holders of Nine’s $2.28 billion in senior debt, conceded some extra ground, giving investment bank Goldman Sachs’ mezzanine debt funds a 4.5 per cent stake in a recapitalised, debt-free Nine. Previously, the funds were only prepared to concede a 4 per cent stake.

Lenders to Australia's beleaguered Nine Entertainment television network, owned by CVC Capital Partners Ltd, are close to agreeing on a deal to swap debt for equity, sources with knowledge of the talks said, Reuters reported. The deal will wipe out CVC's A$1.8 billion ($1.84 billion) equity investment in Nine, marking the largest-ever loss on a single private-equity deal in Asia, and one of the biggest globally. Nine had proposed a debt-for-equity swap deal to avoid going into receivership.

Equipment rental company Hirepool has sought clearance by the anti-trust regulator to buy rival Hirequip out of receivership in a bid to get greater exposure to the heavy construction sector as the Christchurch rebuild starts hitting its stride, The National Business Review reported. Hirepool, which is 75% owned by Australian private equity firm Next Capital, has requested the Commerce Commission clear its acquisition, saying the merger will not substantially cut competition as they largely operate in different areas.

Warring Nine Entertainment lenders remained intransigent Monday ahead of this morning's crucial meeting, which could result in the appointment of receivers, The Australian reported. Nine chairman Peter Bush and chief executive David Gyngell will host a 9am session at the Sydney offices of law firm Gilbert + Tobin, to be attended by representatives of US hedge funds Apollo and Oaktree, and Goldman Sachs. At issue is Nine's $3.3 billion debt, with $2.3bn in senior debt classified as current ahead of its February maturity.

Gunns' lurch into administration, and probable receivership, means the company will never get to build its proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill in Bell Bay, Tasmania, but it does not necessarily mean the end of the project, The Australian reported. The project, which was announced in December 2004, has been controversial from the outset, attracting fierce opposition from the Greens, environmentalists and community groups. Gunns had struggled since the global financial crisis to secure financing and find a 50 per cent partner. Management upheavals and a blowout in gearing didn't help.