Headlines

Norske Skogindustrier ASA, the second-largest newsprint producer, is planning to sell assets and issue debt backed by its accounts receivable to stave off a default that credit markets judge is a 93 percent certainty, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The Norwegian papermaker is in talks with potential buyers of at least 200 million kroner ($35 million) of assets it considers non-core and plans to raise as much as 125 million euros ($169 million) from the securitized debt transaction, Norske Skog Chief Financial Officer Audun Roeneid said in a telephone interview.

Trading in Dexia's stock was suspended Thursday as governments and the bank's management scrambled to figure out what to do with the Franco-Belgian lender, The Wall Street Journal reported. It has been clear for days that the bank would have to be broken up, given its heavy exposure to Greek and Italian sovereign debt—a factor that has made other financial institutions wary of lending to Dexia. But details of the plan have yet to be agreed upon.

Greece would be in much better shape now if it had never joined the euro zone, or if it had been kicked out in 2004 when it admitted that it had lied about its finances to join the club. So would the rest of Europe, the International Herald Tribune reported. One answer is the same one that was given when Greece’s cheating was revealed: Legally, there is no way out. The euro was designed to be the Roach Motel of currencies. Once you enter, you can never leave. There is no provision for departure. But, of course, there is a way out. It would be messy, and perhaps disastrous.

The Spanish government Thursday said it will use the country's deposit-guarantee fund to cover losses resulting from its banking industry clean-up, a move aimed at protecting its efforts to slash a gaping budget deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spain has three separate deposit-guarantee funds, financed by annual contributions from the country's financial institutions but administered by the Bank of Spain.

The Bank of England has launched a second round of quantitative easing to defend Britain's faltering economy against the euro zone debt crisis, pledging to buy 75 billion pounds of assets with new money in a dramatic move to stave off recession, Reuters reported. Thursday's decision by the Bank to expand its asset purchase programme to a total of 275 billion pounds highlights the precarious state of Britain's economy as global growth slows, government spending cuts and tax hikes bite, and consumers face high inflation and slow wage rises.

Once an example of Finland's success in technology innovation, electronics manufacturer Elcoteq filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after failing to reverse a fall in sales and restructure its debt, Reuters reported. The assembler of cellphones and set-top boxes struggled after Nokia Oyj switched to cheaper Asian suppliers a few years ago. It also worked for Research In Motion , LG Electronics and others, but was unable to replace the lost business.

The Portuguese central bank warned Thursday that the government will have to take "significant" additional measures to meet the budget targets mandated by the terms of its international bailout, Reuters reported. This follows last week's statement by Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar that the government would take additional measures after data showed Portugal's budget deficit equaled 8.3% of GDP in the first half of the year, far from its year-end target of 5.9%.

The NSW Supreme Court has cleared the way for Centro's $4 billion restructuring, saying it can proceed to put its complex debt-for-equity proposal to votes of senior lenders, security holders and creditors, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The restructuring was in doubt after an attempt by the members of a class action and the auditor PwC, who had sought to stop the vote of the senior lenders. Under the revamp, only $10 million would be made available to satisfy contingent creditors - far short of the $300 million they expected to recover if successful.

French Finance Minister François Baroin Wednesday said the extent of private-sector involvement in bailing out Greece may need to be reexamined after the volatility on financial markets over the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The comments mark a public acknowledgment from France—which up until now has argued that an agreement by euro-zone heads of state on July 21 should be applied in full—that further participation from private-sector creditors may be required as Greece's financial crisis deepens.

India mining giant Ashapura Minechem Ltd. filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan in a move to block foreign shipping companies that won a $125 million legal judgment against it from raiding the company's U.S. bank accounts, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Mumbai-based company, a mineral miner and processor with debts topping $223.4 million, argued that the seizure of its U.S.-based assets would jeopardize the financial overhaul underway in its home country.