A local authority in western Sweden is enlisting the help of the government's debt collector to recover $15.9 million it spent supporting carmaker Saab, now owned by Dutch group Spyker, Reuters reported. The government of Vastra Gotaland in western Sweden, home to Saab's main production plant, covered wages when Saab Automobile was under administration before its sale to Spyker.

Extensive new EU supervisory powers over banks and financial institutions have been accepted by an overwhelming majority of members of the European Parliament, The Irish Times reported. The agreement in the wake of the global financial crisis establishes three new financial watchdogs or European supervisory authorities to improve supervision and regulation of banking, markets and securities, and pensions and insurance. A new systemic risk board has also been agreed, which will warn against the build-up of economic risk.

Ireland's closely watched government bond auction led a series of strong debt sales by Europe's fiscally challenged countries Tuesday, bringing some relief to the sovereign landscape, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Irish National Treasury Management Agency sold the maximum intended €1.5 billion ($1.96 billion) in two series of government bonds but paid sharply higher yields than in previous auctions, reflecting political and economic uncertainty.

The founders of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, once a global leader in speech-recognition technology, were found guilty by a Belgian court of fraud violations in the accounting scandal that led to the company's downfall a decade ago, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie were each given sentences of five years, of which they were expected to serve three, a court spokesman said. Six other defendants in the case, including L&H's former chief executive, were also convicted.

The threat of big losses for Royal Bank of Scotland and other banks may help British subprime lender Cattles steer clear of administration as restructuring talks drag on, people close to the discussions said, Reuters reported. Restructuring negotiations at the Hull-based firm, crippled by bad loans and accountancy problems, were derailed last week when a group of bondholders walked away, raising doubts over the chances of reaching a deal on its 2.7 billion pound ($4.2 billion) debt pile.

Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks is launching another bid to keep hold of the Premier League club by securing financing from a private equity company which would share control with him, the Associated Press reported. Hicks along with co-owner George Gillett Jr. had put the club up for sale in April, saying they lacked the funding to take Liverpool forward, on and off the pitch, due to its debt of 237 million pounds ($370 million). But the lack of formal offers for the 18-time English champions has led to the Texan putting together his own financing deal.

Total costs incurred by the administration of Halliwells have reached £1.13m, according to figures contained within the first joint administrators' report, LegalWeek.com reported. The report, drawn up by BDO partners and joint administrators Dermot Power and Shay Bannon, shows that fees of £524,354 have been charged by the administrators, of which just £30,000 has so far been received. A further total of £606,082 relates to expenses incurred by the administrators, including £585,682 spent on legal fees for CMS Cameron McKenna and counsel fees of £19,043.

European officials are jostling over plans to tighten the region’s fiscal rules to ward off another sovereign debt crisis, but agreement on anything that could be enforced by meaningful sanctions is far from certain, The New York Times reported. At the same time, some observers are arguing that any changes might be a sideshow and that the real means of avoiding problems in the future lies in the discipline imposed by investors who are asked to finance government debts — a fundamental rethinking of the way the euro works.

A bankruptcy judge on Monday confirmed Almatis Group's plan to exit Chapter 11 protection in the hands of its corporate parent, Dubai International Capital, bringing the closely watched five-and-a-half month battle for the Netherlands-based aluminum company closer to resolution, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Under the restructuring plan, Almatis will emerge from bankruptcy 60% owned by DIC, with junior mezzanine lenders getting 40%. The plan sets aside 10% of the new company's shares for Almatis management.

A coffee shop magnate who helped launch the careers of KT Tunstall and Amy Macdonald has been banned from running a company for six years, the Daily Record reported. Beanscene founder Gordon Richardson, 48, was struck offlast week after an investigation by the government's Insolvency Service. The two-year probe was launched after Beanscene went bust in July 2008 with debts of £3.7million. Last week Richardson was censured by the Insolvency Service for his role in the collapse of the coffee chain giant.