Headlines

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said he wants to see Britain’s minimum wage rise by more than inflation, as the government seeks to spread the benefits of an improving economy and rebuild support before next year’s election, Bloomberg News reported. “Because we’re fixing the economy, because we’re working through our plan, I believe that Britain can afford an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage,” Osborne said in a BBC television interview yesterday.

An angular glass building on the waterfront here used to be the headquarters of a banking giant with operations in Europe, North America and the Middle East, The New York Times DealBook blog reported. Now, it houses a shadow of that behemoth — a small bank doing business only in Iceland and lacking both the trading culture and ambitions of its failed predecessor. The metamorphosis is a result of one of the biggest bank crashes any country has ever had. The risk in Iceland’s financial system has dissipated, but the basic businesses of banking have shrunk as well.

Less than two years ago, Bankia looked like a Spanish version of Lehman Brothers: a big, troubled institution whose collapse threatened to take down a country’s financial system, The International New York Times reported. Only after a government takeover of Bankia, at the time one of Spain’s biggest mortgage lenders, and an international bailout of the Spanish banking system did the crisis subside.

Punch Taverns Plc, the U.K. pub operator that’s seeking to restructure about 2.3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) of bonds, asked noteholders to accept the final terms of a debt deal, saying the alternative is default, Bloomberg News reported. The offer, which modifies proposals published Dec. 9, will reduce the company’s borrowings by canceling some notes in return for cash payments or issues of new securities to bondholders, it said in a statement. The changes include increased interest rates on some of its debt, modified repayments on other parts and strengthened covenants.

A consortium backed by French giant, Bouygues, looks poised to take over troubled building group, Siac, after the original preferred bidder for the company, businessman Brian Harvey, decided against going ahead with an offer, 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.

A Hong Kong businessman intensified his fight for Fisker Automotive, the bankrupt maker of the plug-in hybrid Karma sports car, seeking an immediate appeal of a ruling that had opened the door for China's Wanxiang Group as a bidder, Reuters reported. The legal team of the businessman, Richard Li, filed an emergency motion late Tuesday seeking permission for a fast-track appeal of a ruling requiring some cash bidding, a day after Li raised his bid for Fisker to $55 million. Without cash bids, Wanxiang did not plan to join the auction. The auction could be held as soon as Feb.

Bailed-out euro-area countries are facing “painful” challenges with worse-than-anticipated consequences of economic adjustment, including high unemployment and slow growth, central banks and finance ministries said, Bloomberg News reported. Officials and ministers from Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus, in responses to European Union lawmaker questions published today, described how their countries’ emergency aid had been followed by social hardship and continuing economic difficulties.

Bankrupt oil company Oleo e Gas Participações S.A., controlled by Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, said on Tuesday it signed a deal for a bridge loan of up to $50 million to finance operations as it works with creditors to restructure its debts, Reuters reported. Obtaining the loans was one of the requirement in an agreement the company reached with bond holders on Dec. 24 to convert Oleo e Gas debt into stock. Oleo e Gas was formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA.

Prokon Regenerative Energien GmbH, a German clean-power developer, collected 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) from investors seeking to profit from the booming wind industry. It may now have to file for protection from creditors, Bloomberg News reported. Prokon will be forced to file for insolvency this month if it doesn’t get agreement from almost all investors to delay withdrawals from profit-participation certificates, it said in a statement. The company has sold certificates to more than 75,000 investors, promising returns of 6 percent.

Financially troubled Colossus Minerals Inc., a development-stage miner focused on Brazil, intends to file for protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, GlobalPost reported on a Canadian Press story. Trading in shares of Colossus, which was unable to make a Dec. 31 interest payment on its convertible gold-linked notes, have been halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange pending a delisting review. Colossus said Tuesday that its board has approved a proposal from certain noteholders and Sandstorm Gold Ltd.