Headlines

Bixi has applied for protection from its creditors and the City of Montreal is taking over the local operation of the popular bike-sharing service, CBC News reported. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre made the announcement Monday afternoon. “If Bixi can be saved, it’s through the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act," Coderre said. The company that owns Bixi — the Public Bike System Company, known in French as the Société de vélos en libre-service (SVLS) — owes $50 million to various creditors, including the City of Montreal.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) last night announced a new tender for servicing any remaining IBRC commercial loans not sold by Anglo Irish Bank’s special liquidator KPMG, the Irish Times reported. In July 2013, Certus, the largest bank services outsourcing company in Ireland, was named as the preferred bidder to manage these loans, which then stood at €22 billion. Certus said at the time it expected to create up to 300 new jobs as a result. However, the success of the KPMG sale process has fundamentally changed the proposed contract.

The dollar bond of Kazakhstan's Alliance Bank, controlled by the oil-rich nation's sovereign wealth fund, rose on Monday as investors awaited the terms of the banks' second debt restructuring since the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. Alliance said on Monday it would meet creditors in London on Wednesday. At a similar meeting last month the bank said it would not pay out on a series of recovery notes. Alliance's dollar bond due 2017 rose 1.5 points to 41.5 cents on the dollar, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Insolvency trade body R3 have put forward new proposals regarding current bankruptcy procedures, including extending the standard bankruptcy terms from one year to three, Insolvency News reported. In a new report, R3 have called for the reform of personal insolvency procedures to provide better protection to creditor and debtors alike, as “thousands of indebted individuals struggle to access a debt relief solution that is suitable for their needs”.

German wind park operator Prokon said it had to stop interest payments and would not for now redeem the millions of euros worth of so-called profit-sharing certificates sold to mainly retail investors, as too many were demanding their money back, Reuters reported. "In the current situation we are unable to make repayments or interest payouts," the group's managing director Carsten Rodbertus said in a statement on the group's website on Friday, addressing its 75,000 certificate holders.

A high-yielding investment product based on a loan to an indebted coal company is offering the latest test of China's willingness to permit defaults in its shadow banking system, Reuters reported. If the product, which is scheduled to mature on Jan. 31, fails to pay out as promised, it could shatter the widespread assumption that even risky investments carry implicit guarantees from the government and state-owned banks.

Dubai Group has signed a $10 billion debt restructuring deal, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, marking the end of a perilous period which saw the emirate risk collapse under a mountain of debt obligations, Reuters reported. The unit of Dubai Holding, the investment vehicle of Dubai's ruler, was one of a number of state-linked entities which borrowed heavily from banks to fund an acquisitions spree during the boom years of 2006-08.

Europe’s landmark deal to establish a common €55bn fund to rescue troubled banks is facing a concerted legal challenge from the European Parliament, which argues the German designed side-pact breaches fundamental EU law, the Financial Times reported. Lawmakers said in a letter sent to the EU’s rotating presidency that the intergovernmental agreement on the banking union resolution fund is illegal because it bypasses the established legislative processes of the union.

Troubled building group Siac’s main shareholders, the Feighery family, will take control of the business with the backing of a French-owned construction-related business and a private investment company, it was confirmed yesterday, the Irish Times reported. The High Court appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as examiner to Siac Construction and eight related companies late last year, giving them protection from creditors, including three banks owed €42 million and suppliers owed €26 million.

Around 30,000 Romanian companies entered insolvency last year, up 10 percent on 2012. Over a third of the newly insolvent ones were retail companies, according to Trade Registry data, Romania-Insider.com reported. December saw the start of insolvency procedures for 2,400 companies, down on 3,500 in November and 3,300 in October. Most insolvencies were recorded in Bucharest – 3,700, up 5.4 percent on 2012 – and Bihor, with 1,800 insolvencies, a 40 percent growth on 2012. The smallest number of insolvencies was recorded in Calarasi – only 217 cases, and Olt – 244 cases.