Headlines

Nakheel, the Dubai government-owned developer that restructured $16 billion of debt three years ago after being hit by a sharp drop in local real estate prices, is now aiming to pay back much of those borrowings early and eventually become debt-free as property prices climb again, The Wall Street Journal Middle East Real Time blog reported. The company will pre-pay 4 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($1.09 billion) of bank loans originally set to mature next September, chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said on Saturday.

Brussels is set to ease financial reforms so that big European banks are not forced automatically to split lending operations from risky trading. In a draft European Commission proposal, seen by the Financial Times, the separation is no longer mandatory, would be less costly and restrictive than first envisaged and national supervisors are given wide discretion in applying the reforms. In a further twist, the commission adds its own “narrowly defined” version of the US Volcker rule, which outlaws proprietary trading.

Danske Bank has declined to reveal the discount it accepted on the Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) near €60 million in loans associated with its half share of the Aviva stadium, citing customer confidentiality. It was reported yesterday that the association has received a writedown of €12.5 million on the loans as part of a refinancing agreed with QED Equity, an investment firm founded by Dermot Desmond, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a giant US investment house.

European Union leaders pondering the fruits of a 120 billion-euro ($163 billion) push to jump-start the economy and create jobs can look to data this week for evidence of how little has been achieved, Bloomberg News reported. The euro-area unemployment rate probably held near a record in November at 12.1 percent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. That report on Jan. 8 follows tomorrow’s release of December consumer-price data.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron promised on Sunday to protect pensioners' income if his Conservative party wins the 2015 election, laying out his first manifesto spending pledge, Reuters reported. Coming at a time when Britain is facing years of cuts to public spending, the promise is designed to win the support of the country's elderly - who polling data show are more likely to vote in elections than younger people.

Spanish gaming group Codere said on Thursday it is seeking protection from creditors and starting talks to avoid insolvency, after struggling to keep up with debt payments in recent months because of higher tax bills and other costs, Reuters reported. The company is the latest in Spanish to run into trouble even as the country slowly emerges from recession, with bankruptcies handled in court in 2013 up 15 percent from the year before, according to official data. Codere's problems, however, stem mainly from its overseas businesses.

Fisker Automotive, the bankrupt maker of a plug-in hybrid sports car, asked a federal judge to approve its proposed sale to a Hong Kong tycoon rather than a Chinese suitor that Fisker alleged was to blame for its failure. A courtroom showdown is set for January 10 that will determine the future of the defunct car maker, which was launched with a controversial U.S. government loan. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross must decide if Fisker's business will be put to open auction or sold to an affiliate of Richard Li as the company has proposed.

The Bombay high court on Thursday continued an order of interim protection granted earlier to a company against the State Bank of India. The HC restrained the Bank from publishing, photographs, names and addresses of the Petitioners as wilful defaulters in any newspaper or other media, The Times of India reported. The Bank had issued notice on December 21, 2013 to Icaro Machines India Private Limited and others. The company challenged the notice in the HC. On January 2, the matter was heard by vacation judge Justice Gautam Patel.

Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista's Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA promised in a securities filing on Thursday to honor its debts in two offshore oil fields with the financial resources it obtained from an agreement with creditors last week, Reuters reported. QGEP Participações SA, Oleo e Gas's partner, said on Monday that the company, formerly known as OGX, could lose its 40 percent stake in the Atlanta and Oliva fields in Brazil's Santos Basin if it fails to pay its share of development costs.

Latvia’s leaders and the European Union have hailed the Baltic state’s adoption of the euro, amid widespread public fears over possible price rises and the future of the single currency, the Irish Times reported. As fireworks erupted over Latvia’s capital Riga to mark the start of 2014, a new €10 note was pulled from a bank machine by acting prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who has been praised by the EU for sticking to painful austerity that restored Latvia to growth after a crippling recession.