Europe

Over 300 employees at a technology factory in Livingston, Scotland, lost their jobs on Christmas Eve - and been told they won’t get paid, The Daily Record reported. Workers at the Kaiam manufacturing plant were told the news at a meeting on Monday with 312 of the 338 staff being made redundant. And in a further blow to employees they were told they will not receive their outstanding wages and will have to go through the Insolvency Service to get their money, which could take weeks.

Interserve said it had reached a deal with its lenders to defer a debt payment due early next year and was considering handing them its profitable building materials business RMDK as it works to avert a Carillion-style collapse, Reuters reported. “The key commercial principles on which the Deleveraging Plan is expected to be based have now been conditionally agreed between Interserve and all lenders,” the British construction and services company said in a statement on Friday.

Six “rogue directors” have been disqualified for a total of 54 years after misleading more than 300 people to invest millions of pounds in property developments across the north of England, the Yorkshire Post reported. An international investigation began after Liverpool-based Absolute Living Developments collapsed in 2016, owing at least £12m to buy-to-let investors. Among the company’s developments were three former office buildings in Bradford which were being turned into flats.

Four of insolvent carrier Hansa Heavy Lift's ships have been arrested. Legal action taken by bunker company World Fuel Services has led to the arrest of the heavy lift shipping company's ships, preliminary administrator Dr. Christoph Morgen tells ShippingWatch. Hansa Heavy Lift filed for bankruptcy protection last week, ShippingWatch reported. "As of today four Hansa Heavy Lift ships have been arrested due to legal action of World Fuel Services. Despite this fact preliminary insolvency administrator Dr.

Plans by Ireland’s banks to issue up to €10 billion in unsecured debt could be dealt a blow by a hard Brexit, the Sunday Times reports, citing concern from regulators, The Irish Times reported. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, access by Irish banks to London’s debt markets could be cut off. AIB and Bank of Ireland must each raise between €3 billion and €5 billion by 2020 from bondholders while Permanent TSB must raise €900 million, the newspaper says.

Aim is supposed to help young, risky high-growth companies access money from investors before they move on to the main market, the Financial Times reported. So why is Renold, a 154-year-old manufacturer, considering a transfer the other way? The maker of industrial chain, gears and couplings said it could switch to Aim within weeks. The uncharitable might say a company with a market capitalisation of about £72m belongs on London’s junior market. Renold has fallen fast in the past few years after being crunched by the manufacturing slowdown after the financial crisis.

Markets, to paraphrase Nobel prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling, often forget that they keep forgetting. That’s especially true when it comes to the intractable challenges posed by global debt, Bloomberg News reported. Since 2008, governments around the world have looked for relatively painless ways to lower high debt levels, a central cause of the last crisis. Cutting interest rates to zero or below made borrowing easier to service. Quantitative easing and central bank support made it easier to buy debt.

Interserve said it had reached a deal with its lenders to defer a debt payment due early next year and was considering handing them its profitable building materials business RMDK as it works to avert a Carillion-style collapse, Reuters reported. “Interserve continues to be in constructive discussions with its lenders, who are fully supportive of Interserve’s business plan and management team,” the British construction and services company said in a statement on Friday.

A total of 10 former employees of Danske Bank A/S in Estonia were apprehended over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. Estonian prosecutors suspect they deliberately helped criminals from the former Soviet Union launder money, for personal gain. In Denmark, where Danske is the biggest bank, the government made clear it’s not in favor of clemency. “It’s very important to come down hard on this case,” Danish Business Minister Rasmus Jarlov told Bloomberg.

Interserve Plc has merged two of its businesses to simplify its organization, the British support services and construction firm said on Wednesday, days after starting rescue talks with creditors, Reuters reported. The company said it combined its citizen services division, which handles everything from rehabilitation of low-risk offenders to education and workplace training and nursing care, with its support services unit that manages outsourced facilities. The support services unit is managed directly by Interserve CEO Debbie White.