Headlines

Hungary's premier on Thursday said his government wouldn't agree to conditions sought by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for a financial-support package, saying the country would rather forgo help than cut pensions or ease banking taxes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's tough remarks—a sharp shift from more conciliatory comments he made Wednesday—jolted investors, pushing down Hungary's currency, the forint, and driving up yields on government debt, as well as the cost of insuring it against default.

Troubled Polish builder Polimex won a lifeline loan from state-owned development agency ARP, lifting the company's shares on Thursday. Polimex is the largest of dozens of Polish construction companies facing financial trouble after bidding for cut-price contracts to build roads for the Euro 2012 soccer championship Poland co-hosted with Ukraine. The contracts gave them razor-thin margins, which were eaten up by the rising cost of materials. As a result Polimex's rival PBG sought bankruptcy protection earlier this summer, also asking ARP for help.

Bulgarian telecoms operator Vivacom obtained UK court approval to proceed with a 1.7 billion euro ($2.1 billion) debt restructuring, ending two years of wrangling with lenders and failed attempts to sell the company, Reuters reported. Under a deal approved by Mr Justice Vos in a hearing at the High Court in London, Russia's second-biggest bank VTB Capital and Bulgaria's Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) are buying over 70 percent of Vivacom and existing lenders are writing off 1 billion euros of debts.

Yellow Media Inc. can continue its transformation into a digital company now that a majority of debtholders and shareholders have approved a controversial plan to reduce its $1.8-billion debt, the directories publisher said Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported on a Canadian Press story. The Montreal company said it will put the debt restructuring plan in place by the end of this month, but added it’s still subject to a number of conditions, including final approval by the Quebec Superior Court.

Loss-making French spirits group Belvedere is confident that its creditors will approve a plan submitted in August to repay its debt and would consider all options including a tie-up with a larger rival to achieve this, the company said on Thursday. Belvedere, the owner of France's best-selling Scotch whiskey William Peel, is on its third attempt to emerge from court protection from creditors, with whom it has been battling for four years.

The euro zone's economic downturn accelerated during the summer, economic reports Wednesday suggest, raising concerns that even aggressive anticrisis measures from the European Central Bank won't be enough to keep the euro bloc from sliding into a deep recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. The figures, which included a slide in retail sales in July, came as the ECB's crisis steps have taken shape.

The European Central Bank will refrain from publishing any formal cap on bond yields when it announces a new plan to buy distressed eurozone sovereign debt at its governing council meeting on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter said, the Financial Times reported.

German solar equipment maker Centrotherm has sold its subsidiary Michael Glatt Maschinenbau GmbH as it tries to claw its way out of insolvency, Reuters reported. The company, which filed for protection from creditors in July, said it sold Michael Glatt to Buechl Handels- und Beteiligungs-KG. It did not disclose a purchase price. Michael Glatt, which traces its roots to 1924, makes industrial products including reactors for chemicals and sterile tanks for the food industry. Read more.

More than four out of every 10 construction firms here were found to have failed to make money in the first six months of the year, weighed down by the prolonged real estate market slump, The Korea Times reported. Most builders are expected to face an even bleaker outlook for the remainder of the year and beyond, with those focusing on the construction of apartments and other residential structures here facing growing risks of bankruptcy.

Belize’s creditors are betting the Central American country will improve its bond restructuring offer in order to maintain access to global debt markets. The government says it doesn’t need them, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Belize’s $1.4 billion economy, which expanded 2 percent in 2011, can go without more borrowing on international credit markets, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said in an Aug. 22 press conference. The country didn’t sell global bonds before 1998 and hasn’t returned to them since a 2007 restructuring. Barrow’s government, which missed a $23 million coupon payment on Aug.