Headlines

Passing a more-generous bailout for Greece through Germany's parliament could prove easier than expected for Chancellor Angela Merkel, after most of her coalition appeared willing on Friday to give Greece more time and financing to repair its economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Senior lawmakers in Ms. Merkel's conservative-led coalition signaled that the chancellor would likely face limited resistance in parliament against an expanded aid package for Greece, belying fears that Germany's legislature would balk at a third bailout deal for Athens since 2010.

At the Leganes toll booth outside Madrid, the workers scan the horizon for cars. In Spain's recession, the stream of paying drivers has slowed to a trickle and the toll road is all but bankrupt. Like the housing bubble, pumped up until it burst in 2008, and its speculation-funded phantom airports, the folly of Spain's road-building boom too is now being laid bare in vast stretches of tarmac, Agence France-Presse reported. "Right now we can't meet our debt repayments.

Scotland's largest architecture firm RMJM Group has performed a major corporate shake-up by putting three of its subsidiaries into receivership, The Herald Scotland reported. Insolvency professionals were appointed to RMJM Limited, RMJM Scotland and RMJM London after directors concluded the businesses could no longer continue to trade. In a statement, RMJM Group, run by Sir Fraser Morrison and his son Peter, said there was "a deep sense of regret" over the move.

One of the state's biggest construction companies has collapsed, with more than 500 creditors believed to be owed millions of dollars, the Herald Sun reported. Southern Cross Constructions yesterday appointed accounting firm Cor Cordis as administrators despite four major projects in NSW still to be completed. While administrators say the majority of projects remain close to completion, the future of the company's 39 employees remains uncertain.

Portugal needs to make tough policy choices to close a “large and durable fiscal gap” amid rising social hardship and growing political and social resistance to more austerity, the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. The government would have to strike a balance between “strong additional” adjustment measures and “avoiding undue strains on the economy and employment”, the fund said in a report on Lisbon’s progress with its €78bn bailout programme.

Spanish telecom giant Telefónica SA, one of the world's most indebted companies, could establish two units—one in Latin America and one in Europe—to protect itself from any further worsening of Spain's economic troubles, its chief financial officer said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company, among Spain's largest by market capitalization and a once-proud symbol of its boom-time expansion, is immersed in the country's troubles.

The world's biggest banks are drawing up tactics to strengthen their hand in future sovereign debt restructurings, as they seek to avoid another situation similar to the Greek debt talks, when government pushed them into accepting to tens of billions of euros in writedowns, Reuters reported on an International Financing Review story.

Another drop in lending to companies in the 17-country eurozone showed the economic downturn is deepening, as a brighter mood on financial markets fails to catch on with businesses, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The European Central Bank said Thursday that loans to non-bank businesses shrank 1.4 percent year on year in September, double the 0.7 percent contraction reported the month before. The numbers show the economy is struggling despite efforts by the central bank to stimulate credit and calm financial markets fearful that the eurozone might break up.

Hibu, the crisis-hit publisher of Yellow Pages, said it would halt repayments to its lenders as it waits for a restructure, warning shareholders that their holdings are likely to end up worthless, The Telegraph reported. The company, formerly known as Yell, has been crippled by the rapid rise of internet search engines such as Google and the debts it racked up during an acquisition spree overseas. Hibu’s lenders, to which it owes £2.3bn, are expecting a debt-for-equity swap, which will see creditors take over the company.

Punch Taverns said it was in talks to restructure its debt after the leased pub group posted a sharp drop in full-year profit, blaming Britain's wet summer and disruption caused by a major business overhaul, Reuters reported. Like many British pub companies, Punch was hit hard by the country's double-dip recession and is trying to reduce 2.1 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) of debt built up before the economic downturn. Punch said on Wednesday that the cost of servicing that debt was unsustainable and it was in discussions with major shareholders and other stakeholders over a restructuring.