Headlines

Investors who bet on Eike Batista have lost billions over the past year as the Brazilian's ephemeral business empire imploded. But they haven't been the only losers - the onetime Amazon gold trader and former speedboat racer's hometown of Rio de Janeiro has also been shaken by his rapid decline, Reuters reported in an insight. Beginning in 2006, Batista floated a series of mining, energy and shipping companies through share offers that by 2012 made him the world's seventh richest man, valued by Forbes magazine at $30 billion.

Aer Lingus has told the trustees of its staff pension scheme that it will not make an additional financial contribution to tackle a deficit of nearly €800 million, the Irish Times reported. Last summer the company told the markets a proposal put forward by the Labour Court that would have involved it investing about €140 million, could form the basis of an agreement for dealing with the estimated €780 million deficit in the Irish Airlines (General Employees) Superannuation Scheme (IASS). However, the Pensions Board subsequently raised concerns about the Labour Court proposal.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s promise of measures to curb the budget gap and avert a credit rating downgrade helped send three-year government bond yields to a four-month low. His resolve is about to be tested, Bloomberg reported. Najib, also finance minister, will deliver his 2014 budget speech to parliament on Oct. 25 after cementing his leadership in a May general election.

The owner of Scotland's largest oil refinery has warned he is not bluffing about threats to close the site permanently this week if 1,300 staff do not agree to pensions cuts, The Guardian reported. Grangemouth, which provides 85% of Scotland's petrol, was shut down last Wednesday in an escalation of a rancorous industrial dispute between Ineos, the plant's owner, and Unite, Britain's largest trade union. Jim Ratcliffe, the chairman of Ineos, said a decision on the site's future would be announced on Tuesday following a staff consultation. "This is not a bluff.

Struggling PV systems supplier, CENTROSOLAR, is seeking creditor protection via the Local Court of Hamburg, PV Tech reported. CENTROSOLAR AG and CENTROSOLAR Sonnenstromfabrik GmbH are seeking to restructure debts under the court's ‘protective shield proceedings’ process and will continue operations during the three-month period allocated under the system. The company said in a statement that Renusol GmbH, CENTROSOLAR America Inc. and CENTROPLAN GmbH were not part of the insolvency proceedings as these subsidiaries were fully financed and were operating profitably or near profitability.

Insolvent German home improvement store chain Praktiker group on Thursday said exclusive talks were under way to sell its upmarket brand Max Bahr stores to rival Hellweg. Praktiker, a household name in Europe's biggest economy, is being sold off piecemeal after the administrator failed to find a buyer for the whole group. "The creditor committee today decided to conduct final negotiations about a takeover with the Hellweg bidder consortium," Praktiker said in a statement that cited Max Bahr's insolvency administrator.

Greece faces tough negotiations with international lenders over a looming fiscal gap in the 2014 budget that could undermine its chances of emerging from a six-year recession, the Financial Times reported. The “troika” – the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – wants the government to adopt further austerity measures after identifying a potential shortfall of €2bn in the latest budget draft submitted by Athens.

Cash-strapped Brazilian oil company OGX Petróleo e Gás Participaçãoes SA may get to keep its oil exploration blocks even if it files for bankruptcy protection, the head of Brazil's petroleum regulator, the ANP, said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Keeping those blocks though will depend on the company, part of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's EBX Group, meeting all the conditions of its current concession contracts, Magda Chambriard, the ANP's general director told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

Leading German economists have described as “problematic” last year’s June EU summit conclusions allowing direct recapitalisations of euro zone banks by the ESM bailout fund, the Irish Times reported. In their autumn forecast, provided to the federal government yesterday in Berlin, the four economic institutes said Ireland was still vulnerable to shocks because of continued high levels of debt. However the economists said only limited direct ESM recapitalisations should be allowed when a euro zone banking union is established, comprising joint regulation and oversight structures.

Small and medium-sized companies continue to dominate insolvency statistics, with 80 per cent of failed businesses having fewer than 20 employees and less than $100,000 in assets, the Herald Sun reported. Creditors to these companies were also big losers, receiving a maximum of just 11c for every dollar they were owed, according to a new report by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission released yesterday.