Headlines

Pescanova's chairman sold half of his stake in the Spanish fishing company before deep debt problems became public in March and trading in its shares was suspended, the company said on Monday, Reuters reported. Pescanova initiated bankruptcy proceedings in early March after a deep and long recession in Spain left it unable to pay debts of at least 1.5 billion euros ($1.96 billion) racked up during an ambitious expansion. But bickering between board members, questions over its accounts and a row with its auditors have slowed efforts to hammer out a survival plan.

Greece has identified some 15,000 public-sector workers to be let go over two years as part of a tentative agreement sealed Monday with its international lenders to unlock the next payments from its €173 billion ($226 billion) bailout, The Wall Street Journal reported. After weeks of negotiations, representatives of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank that the review had been completed and a "staff-level agreement" reached with the Greek government.

After two weeks of negotiations over a possible $4.8bn loan deal to prop up Egypt’s flailing economy, an IMF team will probably return on Tuesday without a deal to Washington, where talks are likely to proceed, officials and diplomats said, the Financial Times reported. Hisham Qandil, Egyptian prime minister, told Bloomberg News that negotiations over terms of the loan may continue on the sidelines of the IMF’s spring conference in Washington.

Calgary-based oil field services firm Poseidon Concepts Corp. filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Friday in Colorado bankruptcy court, three days after petitioning for creditor protection in Canadian court and nearly two months after announcing it would have to restate its earnings for three quarters of 2012, Law360 reported.

Britain should issue licences to bankers to help stamp out the kind of scandals that have hit the City of London in recent years, the opposition Labour party proposed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Labour will seek to amend a banking reform bill in parliament to strengthen existing checks on people working in the financial services industry.

Bank credit is now more popular with big companies in Britain than at any point in the past five years, a survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting an easing in what many see as a major brake on the economy, Reuters reported. The Bank of England and politicians say a lack of bank lending, especially for smaller firms, is part of the reason for the country's very slow recovery from the financial crisis. That problem seems to be fading, at least for business heavyweights.

Creditors of the European arm of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, which collapsed in September 2008, may be repaid in full, administrators said on Monday, Reuters reported. The settlement of rival claims over assets has freed up billion of dollars that can now be distributed to former clients of the bank's European arm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in its ninth progress report to creditors.

A Russian depositor has filed suit for the seizure of all assets in Russia belonging to Laiki Bank of Cyprus, including its controlling stake in Russia’s Rosprombank, which may now hamper a Cypriot plan to sell off the shares, RT.com reported. Presnensky Court in Moscow has received a lawsuit from ‘Y. G. Borisov’ against Laiki Bank – which operates in Russia under the Cyprus Popular Bank brand – and Rosprombank, in which Cyprus owns a 50.4 percent stake. Borisov has demanded the repayment of money that was seized from his account with the Cypriot bank; the exact sum was not disclosed.

The Dutch government is taking a more relaxed approach toward austerity and delaying changes in jobless benefits in a bid to restore consumer confidence, revive the economy and make it easier to meet European Union budget targets next year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move is the latest sign that the Netherlands, one of the more fiscally hawkish members in the euro zone and a steadfast ally of Germany, is softening its hard-line stance as it grapples with its own economic woes.

U.S. units of Canadian telemarketer iMarketing Solutions Group Inc. entered Chapter 15 in Delaware bankruptcy court Friday and sought immediate recognition of the insolvency proceedings commenced by its parent in a Toronto court earlier in the day, Law360 reported. Counsel for Xentel Inc. and seven other IMSG subsidiaries appeared in Wilmington hours after the Chapter 15 filing and asked the Delaware court to officially recognize the foreign proceedings as the company was “gravely concerned” that U.S.