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.

The US hedge funds Apollo and Oaktree, investment bank Goldman Sachs and Nine Entertainment begin talks on Monday and Tuesday that will decide whether the television group gets new owners quickly or slides into the purgatory of receivership, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Nine convened the meeting to try and resolve a stand-off between the hedge funds, which own most of Nine's $2.7 billion senior debt, and Goldman, which manages investment funds that own about 80 per cent of Nine's lower-ranking $1.1 billion tranche of mezzanine debt.

The potential receivership of Nine Entertainment is now a real threat amid a critical debt covenant test for the group at the end of the month, The Australian reported. According to sources, CVC Asia Pacific and financiers have been forced to all but abandon hope for a strategic buyer for Nine, Australia's second-placed free-to-air network.

Australian Music Group Holdings (AMG), which trades as Billy Hyde and Allans, has been placed into receivership by one of its creditors. James Stewart and Brendan Richards from Ferrier Hodgson were appointed as administrators Thursday morning by Revere Capital, a group of private investors owed around $27 million by AMG, and immediately placed the retailer into receivership. Unsecured creditors are owed around $13.5 million, while employee entitlements are estimated at $3 million.