Headlines

The liquidator of two companies formerly controlled by businessman Philip Marley has written to creditors in recent days to tell them of matters “simply extraordinary” and of “great concern”, the Irish Times reported. Creditors owed substantial sums by Ely-related companies include the Revenue Commissioners; Zolfo Cooper, the liquidators of a British company called Space Student Living Ltd; IBRC; Investec; landlords; an accountancy firm; and an estate agent among others.

The management of German rooftop PV installer and module manufacturer Centrosolar has unveiled an insolvency plan, which has been approved by the company’s creditors’ committee. The main thrust of the plan is that Centrosolar will in future focus on the US market, trading as Centrosolar America. The plan still requires several further stages of approval before it can be implemented, PV-Tech reported. Centrosolar said that in order to save costs, the parent company will be “slimmed down” considerably.

A sawmill company with about 400 employees and about $100 million in annual sales has been placed in receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. Brendan Gibson and Michael Stiassny, of KordaMentha, were this afternoon appointed as receivers of Dunedin-headquartered Southern Cross Forest Products. The company has four sites in Mosgiel, Milton, Balclutha and Milburn around Dunedin and another site in Thames. In 2012, the last figures available, the company generated revenue of just under $95m.

Italy's new government approved a new decree Friday aimed at staving off a default by the city of Rome while insisting that the capital must still seek ways to curb its perennial deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported. The new decree, which must be approved by parliament, offers €575 million ($788.32 million) in cash, which will cover more than half the capital's 2013 shortfall. That is more than the amount pledged by the previous government's so-called "Save Rome" decree, which languished in parliament until being withdrawn earlier this week due to a parliamentary filibuster.

OAO Gazprom’s threat to end natural gas discounts for Ukraine adds to the financial burden on the near-bankrupt government in Kiev and makes Europe’s energy supply part of the escalating crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Russia’s gas-export monopoly said on March 1 it may end last year’s agreement to supply Ukraine at a cheaper rate unless it’s paid $1.55 billion owed for fuel. It’s the first time since the otherthrow of pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych last month that Russia has directly used its position as Ukraine’s dominant energy supplier to pressure the new regime.

Sony is now looking to sell its former headquarters and surrounding buildings in central Tokyo in its continuing struggle to stem losses from its consumer electronics business, according to a person familiar with the plan, The Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time blog reported. The sale would follow a frenzied unloading of properties in 2013, the most iconic being the $1.1 billion sale of Sony’s U.S. headquarters at 550 Madison Avenue.

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland is working on a plan to salvage its troubled Irish business, Ulster Bank, by merging it with a number of rivals, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. Attempts to find a buyer for the business have failed and a team inside RBS is looking at tie-ups between Ulster and other lenders, such as Permanent TSB or the Irish units of Danske Bank or KBC, the newspaper reported. Bolting the institutions together could allow the new Ulster Bank to strip out costs and mount a credible challenge to Ireland's top players.

The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and its chief executive said 850,000 bitcoins, worth several hundred million dollars, are unaccounted for, The Washington Post reported. The exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply. He said a weakness in the exchange’s systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company’s own bitcoins. That would amount to about $425 million at recent prices.

Zhang Hongbao, who’s run a funeral home in Shanghai for more than a decade, says he can’t recall the last time business was so dead, Bloomberg reported. “Government officials don’t dare to spend too much on funerals,” Zhang, owner of Shanghai Funeral Service (China) Co., said in an interview. “It’s the peak of the anti-corruption drive.

Spain launched the privatization of its largest bailed-out lender, Bankia SA, marking a turning point in the country's revamp of its banking industry, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Spanish government is to sell 7.5% of its stake in Bankia by Friday, according to a regulatory filing posted after the close of trading Thursday in Madrid. The sale is a first step as the government seeks to whittle down its 68% holding in the bank.