Headlines

Netoil Inc., a Dubai-based company, has submitted a revised offer for insolvent Petroplus Holdings AG’s Petit-Couronne refinery in Normandy, France, teaming up with BP Plc., Bloomberg Businessweek reported. “We didn’t have a supplier before, now, we have a letter of intent from BP to supply 120,000 barrels of crude a day to the refinery for a three-year period,” Roger Tamraz, Netoil’s chairman, said today in a telephone interview from Paris.

Tour operator Orizonia is restructuring around 640 million euros ($818 million) of loans, according to people close to talks with creditors, as it battles to survive Spain's economic downturn, Reuters reported. Private equity-owned Orizonia, formerly known as Iberostar, has a cash hole in its finances after revenues slumped as the euro zone crisis intensified, a senior investor said. The travel company is expected to complete a debt restructuring by the end of November.

The story of housing boom and housing bust, debt and unemployment is repeated in towns and villages across Spain. It weighs heavily on the Spanish government as it ponders the political dangers and economic merits of a European Union bailout, the Financial Times reported. But for millions of Spaniards, the country’s severe recession is above all else a fact of daily life, reflected in empty storefronts and crowded soup kitchens, in crushing personal debt, skipped mortgage payments and the looming threat of eviction.

Europe's governments and the European Central Bank are at odds about who should shoulder the financial burden of giving Greece more time to repay its loans and remain part of the euro zone, The Wall Street Journal reported. The search for a solution for Greece, whether by forgiving some of the money it owes or giving it yet more bailout loans, has come back to haunt the currency union ahead of the ECB's monthly policy meeting on Thursday.

The Polish central bank expects the country’s commercial banks to tighten lending conditions further for consumers and businesses in the fourth quarter because of a deterioration in both the economic outlook and their portfolios, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. Poland’s conservatively managed banks—with negligible exposure to toxic assets and a low bad-debt ratio—have proven resilient to the economic crisis that has roiled the euro zone.

The Danish bank Sydbank has agreed to take over all activities of local rival Tønder Bank, The Copenhagen Post reported. The deal came after Finanstilsynet (FSA), the financial supervisory administration, said last Friday that Tønder Bank didn't have enough capital to continue as an independent company. Under the agreement, Sydbank will take over around 18,000 customers and a balance sheet of roughly 2.3 billion kroner. Over the past few weeks, regulators inspected Tønder Bank's books and found that they were short 300 million kroner.

British retail sales slowed sharply in October as Britons limited to spending to essentials such as food and drink, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday, dampening hopes that consumers will drive the economic recovery, Reuters reported. Like-for-like retail sales - a measure that strips out changes in floor space and is favoured by equity analysts - fell by 0.1 percent in value terms on the year, the BRC said, making October one of the worst months for the sector this year.

The Victorian Government says it has been given an assurance from the receivers of the financial group Banksia Securities that investors will get some of their money back, ABC News reported. A Government working group convened to provide help to those who have been affected by the collapse of Banksia met for the first time yesterday. Banksia went into receivership last month owing $660 million, much of which had been invested by regional Victorians. The chairman of the working group, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, says the receivers cannot say what percentage of investors' money will be returned.

Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister, invoked the prospect of his nation tumbling out of the eurozone as he sought to rally wobbling MPs ahead of critical parliamentary votes that could determine whether the government gains access to a desperately-needed €31.2bn loan payment, the Financial Times reported. “We have to save the country from catastrophe . . . Leaving the euro would be a nightmare and we intend to avert it,” Mr Samaras said.

Sharp Corp. may turn to the last resort of Japanese companies facing potential bankruptcy -- the government, Bloomberg reported. With 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion) of convertible bonds maturing in 2013, Sharp may have to ask the state Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. or Innovation Network Corp. of Japan for money, said Fumiaki Sato, co-founder of Sangyo Sosei Advisory Inc., a turnaround advisory firm in Tokyo. Sharp has failed to win a planned 67 billion-yen equity investment from billionaire Terry Gou’s Foxconn Technology Group.