Headlines

Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy on Monday, giving up a desperate struggle to stay in business after previous owner General Motors Co. blocked takeover attempts by Chinese investors, the Associated Press reported. Saab CEO Victor Muller personally handed in the bankruptcy application to a court in southwestern Sweden, ending his two-year effort to revive the carmaker that over more than six decades has become known for its rounded sedans and quirky design features.

Dutch primary aluminium producer ZALCO is looking for a buyer to restart its plant, which was shut on Friday due to lack of funds after the company filed for bankruptcy last week, an official receiver said, Reuters reported. "The company filed for bankruptcy last Tuesday, and on Friday we decided to shut down the plant due to lack of funds; we couldn't pay the energy bills," Ernst Butterman, one of the two official receivers, told Reuters in a phone interview on Monday.

Sino-Forest Corp., already reeling from fraud allegations, has been slapped with default notices from debt holders, a setback that could mark the beginning of the end for what was once Canada’s largest publicly traded forestry company, The Globe and Mail reported. Sino-Forest management, including its Canadian chief executive officer Judson Martin, are now pleading with debt holders not to tip the company into insolvency. The TSX-listed Chinese timber firm had less than $600-million (U.S.) in cash in early November and more than $1.8-billion in debt. Mr.

Former billionaire Seán Quinn should have his Northern Ireland bankruptcy annulled because he did not make a full disclosure when he applied for it in November, it was claimed in the High Court in Belfast yesterday, the Irish Times reported. The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (or IBRC – formerly Anglo Irish Bank), also claimed that Mr Quinn’s “centre of main interests” was not in Co Fermanagh as he had said when making his ex parte application in November, but rather was in Co Cavan.

The government should clarify responsibilities and strengthen oversight over the new, powerful regulators in its sweeping overhaul of the country's regulatory system, a key parliamentary committee said on Monday, Reuters reported. However, the joint committee looking into the draft Financial Services Bill, which will make the Bank of England the key player in the regulation of the country's financial sector, backed regulators' call for more discretionary powers to avoid the shortfalls of a fully rule-based regulation approach.

Private creditors are balking in talks about forgiving €100 billion ($130 billion) in Greek debts, European officials warned Friday, just as negotiations heated up on the debt restructuring that aims to save Athens from bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported on an Associated Press story. European and Greek negotiators met with representatives from banks and investment funds Friday in Paris, after holding talks earlier this week in Athens.

Sino-Forest Corp.'s second-largest shareholder has joined calls for the Canadian-Chinese timber company to make interest payments on outstanding debt, signalling a battle could be brewing between equity and bondholders over the firm's assets, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Davis Advisors, which owns about 17% of Sino-Forest, urged the company to reconsider its decision against making an almost $10 million interest payment that was due Thursday on some of its convertible bonds, given Sino-Forest maintains it's a going concern with real assets.

A copy of Manhattan, complete with Rockefeller and Lincoln centers and what passes for the Hudson River, is under construction an hour’s train ride from Beijing. And like New York City in the 1970s, it may need a bailout, Bloomberg reported. Debt accumulated by companies financing local governments such as Tianjin, home to the New York lookalike project, is rising, a survey of Chinese-language bond prospectuses issued this year indicates. It also suggests the total owed by all such entities likely dwarfs the count by China’s national auditor and figures disclosed by banks.

Britain is to propose stricter rules for mortgage lending that aim to prevent a recurrence of irresponsible practices -- such as "liar loans" -- that led to the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. The UK financial watchdog -- the Financial Services Authority -- will discuss these proposals with banks and other lenders in a consultation that follows on from initial plans the FSA put forward in July to tighten up mortgage regulation.

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund broke off preliminary talks Friday with Hungary on a financial aid package because of concerns that the government aimed to curtail the independence of the country's central bank, the Associated Press reported. Hungary said last month it would seek to work out a deal for unspecified aid from the IMF and the EU, a "security net" to reassure investors about its creditworthiness and financial stability.