Europe

Austrian automotive warp and weft knit fabric producer Eybl International AG announced that it was filing for administrative receivership after recent talks about a takeover by the Slovenian Prevent Group failed to lead to a positive conclusion, the trade journal Knitting Industry reported. Eybl International, which specialises in textile production, fabrication and components for automotive interiors, operates eight production sites in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Germany and Slovakia as well as four distribution sites in Germany, France, Spain and Britain.

Two Rubicon property funds have failed to meet debt repayment requirements and say their creditor, Credit Suisse, may declare them in default, the Business Spectator reported. In separate statements on Friday, Rubicon America Trust and Rubicon Europe Trust Group said they fell short US$35.4 million (A$50.34 million) and €16.7 million ($A23.27 million), respectively, on payments due by December 30, 2008. Under its agreement with Credit Suisse, RAT was required to reduce its facility to US$50 million. As at December 30, the balance stood at US$85.4 million, RAT said.

Austrian private bank Bank Medici was placed under state supervision on Friday amid bigger exposure to the Bernard Madoff scandal than previously disclosed. A source close to the matter told Reuters on Friday the bank holds over $3 billion in funds exposed to what could be Wall Street's biggest fraud. It is still not clear how much cash has been lost. Austria appointed a supervisor to the bank, financial regulator FMA said, in the first known case where a government has stepped in to run a bank caught in the alleged $50 billion Madoff fraud.

Factories in China and India joined much of Europe in slashing output and jobs at a record pace in December, another sign the biggest emerging markets were wilting under the recession gripping industrialized nations, Reuters reported. Economists and policymakers had seen China, Russia, India and Brazil, with their vast markets and rising wealth, as the engines of growth that could save the world from recession. Those hopes are fading fast and forecasts are getting gloomier.

LyondellBasell Industries, the world's third-largest independent chemical company, told lenders on Monday it is considering filing for bankruptcy protection amid plunging sales and a cash crunch, people familiar with the matter said. The Wall Street Journal reported that LyondellBasell, which is based in the Netherlands and has large U.S. operations, has hired bankruptcy counsel and told lenders it is trying to line up as much as $2 billion in bankruptcy financing. A Chapter 11 filing may be imminent.

Oilexco Inc., a North Sea producer of oil and gas, lost more than half its market value in London trading today after saying its U.K. subsidiary was likely to file for insolvency administration as early as next week, Bloomberg reported. Calgary-based Oilexco North Sea Ltd. has been informed by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc that lenders aren’t prepared to provide further financing, Oilexco said today in a statement. The unit “does not have any other source of funding,” it said, adding that the parent company “remains solvent.” Oilexco hired Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co.

European countries still deal with insolvent firms far more harshly than America does, and most such firms end up in liquidation, a recent Economist analysis found. They often treat creditors badly too, meaning that neither side ends up satisfied. Observers worry that Europe will cope with the coming flood of defaults far less effectively than America, meaning a slower recovery. In recent years several European countries have tried to change their systems so that companies have a better chance of survival.

Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz said on Tuesday it has published its 2007 audited accounts, allowing it to avoid technical default on a $500 million Eurobond, Reuters reported. Bondholders had agreed in November to extend the deadline for receiving the accounts--one of the conditions of the bond--until the end of this year after the financially ailing company missed a summer deadline.

China's Lenovo Group, the world's No.4 personal computer maker, is considering a restructuring because of tough economic conditions, China Business News reported on Wednesday. The influential business newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Lenovo might merge its Greater China and Russia operations with its Asia Pacific operations. David Miller, president for the Asia Pacific region, is expected to resign and Chen Shaopeng, now president of the Greater China region, would head the merged operations, the newspaper said.

Little Bird, a Dublin film company whose credits include Bridget Jones’s Diary, Into the West and Ordinary Decent Criminal, has gone into receivership after failing to raise funds, The Sunday Business Post reported. Kieran Wallace, an accountant with KPMG in Dublin, has been installed as receiver of Little Bird Holdings. The group consists of 32 companies in five countries, many of which are continuing to trade.