Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on a visit Monday to Latin America's biggest economy, urged Brazilian officials to help the U.S. pressure China to allow its currency to appreciate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Though officials in public shied away from specifics of any plan to coordinate calls for a stronger yuan, a person familiar with the discussions said Brazil and the U.S. may speak with a common voice on the issue in a coming meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

A bankruptcy judge cleared Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to sell its Brazil investment business, Libro Companhia Securitizadora de Creditos Financeiros, for nearly $15.9 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, approved of the sale Wednesday to a firm called Jive Investments Holding Ltd. In his order, Peck said that Jive's offer was the "highest and best" available and that the sale was in the best interest of Lehman and its creditors.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is seeking court approval to sell its Brazil investment business, Libro Companhia Securitizadora de Creditos Financeiros, to a firm called Jive Investments Holding Ltd., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Jive, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, will buy Lehman's equity stake and notes in Libro, which maintains portfolios of fixed income, distressed and loan assets. The sale price is nearly $15.9 million, after Jive outbid an unidentified competitor. Lehman is asking Judge James Peck of the U.S.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar, BusinessWeek reported.

The World Trade Organisation is expected to rule on Friday that billions of dollars in European government subsidies for Airbus aircraft are illegal, the Financial Times reported. That would hand victory to the US and Boeing, in the first round of a WTO dogfight between the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers. The preliminary ruling, is likely to spur Washington to launch a WTO challenge to further government loans for Airbus to develop its new €11 billion ($16 billion, £10 billion) A350 extra wide-bodied airliner which will compete with Boeing’s long-delayed 787 Dreamliner.

A group of 1,524 cattle ranchers said they would reject a debt-reduction plan by Brazilian beef processor Independencia to exit bankruptcy proceedings, Valor Economico reported Friday. Independencia, which filed for bankruptcy protection in early March, offered to cap debt payments to ranchers at 80,000 reais (US$43,550), Valor said. That makes up for an estimated 120 million reais in total payments for the ranchers. But they instead are demanding a total 330 million reais be paid as part of any renegotiation accord or will halt supplies to the company, Valor said.

The International Monetary Fund approved plans on Wednesday to issue its own debt to strengthen its capacity to fund bail-outs, the Financial Times reported. Meanwhile, the World Bank said it committed a record $59 billion in loans and guarantees to developing countries in the year to June 30.

BTA Bank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, began talks with creditors to renegotiate payments on as much as $15 billion of debt in a bid to avert bankruptcy, Chief Executive Officer Anvar Saidenov said. “The viability of the institution will depend on how successful we are in negotiating with our creditors,” Saidenov, who is also chairman of BTA’s management board, said today in an interview in London.

Fiat SpA's chief executive might swear that he is not trying to build an empire, but he is certainly looking for scale--on the cheap. Sergio Marchionne faces a Thursday deadline to close a landmark deal to form a partnership with ailing U.S. car maker Chrysler LLC but he has already shown an interest in Opel, the German unit of General Motors Corp (GM). News reports also speak about a possible collaboration between Fiat and GM in Latin America, especially Brazil where they both have a strong presence.

Brazilian bankruptcy filings are set to soar as the country’s corporates are squeezed by a global downturn and gridlocked capital and bank markets, say lawyers specializing in the matter. Ronald Herscovici, a partner at Souza Cescon in Sao Paulo, said the new bankruptcy law in Brazil makes it more attractive for companies to file because it encourages the preservation of the concern, rather than pushing towards asset liquidation, as with the former law, LatinFinance reported.