Headlines

The International Monetary Fund has approved an 84.7 million-euro ($113 million) payout to Cyprus as part of the country's financial rescue, The New Zealand Herald reported on an Associated Press story. Cyprus' eurozone partners last week approved their part of the installment of bailout cash, amounting to 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion). They hailed the country for taking "decisive steps" to stabilize its banks, meet fiscal targets and take structural reforms.

Vikram Bakshi, the ousted managing director of Connaught Plaza Restaurants that runs McDonald's chain in North and East India, faces battle on another front with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) moving to seize his assets after a loan default, the Economic Times reported. The government-backed lender has filed a case against Bakshi after he failed to meet payments on loans worth Rs 80 crore for his privatelyheld Ascot Hotels & Resorts, Noida, near New Delhi.

Co-Operative Bank Plc said it’s willing to engage with creditors proposing an alternative recapitalization plan as it seeks to raise 1.5 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), Bloomberg reported. The U.K. lender, which is being pushed by regulators to bolster capital after incurring losses following its 2009 acquisition of Britannia Building Society, was responding to proposals from Moelis & Company UK LLP, which is advising a group that owns 43 percent of Co-Op’s lower Tier 2 bonds. Bondholders said they want all of the bank’s subordinated bonds and preferred stock converted to common shares.

Portugal begins a new round of talks with international lenders on Monday amid signs that eurozone governments will strongly resist pressure from Lisbon to relax fiscal targets as the country approaches the final stages of its €78bn bailout programme, the Financial Times reported. A successful outcome to the negotiations is seen as vital for Portugal to regain the confidence of international investors following a damaging political crisis in July and a third intervention by the constitutional court restricting the scope of government reforms.

Japan is on a roll. Its economy is growing at a robust 3.8 percent, the stock market is up by 40 percent this year, and the country is on the cusp of overcoming 15 years of deflation. Adding to the positive trend, Tokyo just won its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, raising hopes of an investment and construction boom, the International Herald Tribune reported. What could possibly go wrong? A plan to raise taxes at the worst conceivable moment, economists warned. “It’s nonsense.

National governments may be forced to contribute to future bank recapitalisations if next year’s European bank stress tests reveal shortfalls in the balance sheets of European banks, a board member of the European Central Bank said Friday, the Irish Times reported.

The owners of Sydney's Cross City Tunnel are blaming the New South Wales Government for the company having to be placed in voluntary administration, ABC News reported. Cross City Motorway, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, EISER Infrastructure and Leighton Contractors, was placed in voluntary administration on Friday. It could soon be the second time owners of the two-kilometre tunnel linking the western and eastern fringes of Sydney's CBD have gone into receivership.

Shares of India’s state-run banks are trading near record-low valuations as concern grows about narrowing risk buffers and rising bad loans, Bloomberg reported. Indian Bank, United Bank of India Ltd. and Union Bank of India, have fallen more than 55 percent this year to Sept. 12, the most among the nine government banks that are leading declines for India’s 40 bank stocks. Shares of the nine lenders are all trading below the value of their assets amid lower-than-average capital adequacy levels and bad loan ratios that are about double those of private-sector lenders.

Pressure is building on the Government to address fears that a debt-fuelled housing bubble is emerging after a leading UK property website tripled its growth forecast for home prices this year, The Telegraph reported. Rightmove started the year forecasting that average national asking prices would rise by 2pc over 2013. The property website, which advertises more than 800,000 properties nationwide, now believes prices are set to increase by 6pc, having previously raised its outlook to 4pc in July.

Investors holding about $300 million of shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA's debt signed an agreement to protect their rights in case the company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista is unable make bond payments, the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday, Reuters reported. The accord was signed by seven large investment funds with about $200 million in OSX bonds and other investors holding about $100 million, Estado said, without naming a source. OSX has $500 million in international bonds outstanding, the paper said. OSX declined to comment.