Headlines

A maker of sweet treats for Scots may face a sour fate. Confectioner New McCowans Ltd., which makes Highland Toffee bars, Wham chew bars and Bonbons chewy candies, has gone into administration, according to the BBC, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. In the U.K., a company that goes into administration must hand over control to an independent administrator who then works to find a way to pay creditors, often through a sale of the company.

In the High Court recently there was a ruling on the liquidator of DR Developments (Youghal) Limited whereby he cannot charge fees for selling houses on behalf of AIB without firstly obtaining a Court order before the sale, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The liquidator, Gerard Murphy of Gerard Murphy & Company was appointed Official Liquidator to the company on 17th May 2010 on foot of a petition from Healy Bros Limited. The liquidator had sought Court approval to sell the assets of the company for AIB, or approval of the sale arrangements when finalised with the bank.

As the crisis engulfing the 17-nation bloc escalates, Germany continues to press hard for Greece, the region’s worst fiscal miscreant, to pay a high price for breaking the rules, the Financial Times reported. From the federal president down, conservative thinkers have denounced the extraordinary steps taken by the European Central Bank to prevent financial meltdown. Jürgen Stark, one of their leading representatives, this month quit the ECB’s executive board in protest.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday strongly defended his government in the wake of the decision by ratings agency Standard and Poor’s to downgrade Italy, reducing its sovereign debt rating from A+/A-1+ to A/A-1, the Irish Times reported. In a report issued late on Monday night, S&P had questioned the “government’s ability to respond” to the current euro zone crisis.

Swedish labor union IF Metall Tuesday submitted bankruptcy petitions against car maker Saab Automobile AB to the Vanersborg district court, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The blue-collar union, representing workers at the troubled Swedish car maker, said in a statement the decision was "very painful" but that it must secure its members' wages and can't wait any longer.

Germany’s bad banks, backed by the state to prevent the collapse of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG and WestLB AG during the credit crisis, would be the hardest hit in the event of a Greek default, leaving taxpayers to shoulder the bill a second time, Bloomberg reported. Hypo’s FMS Wertmanagement, with 8.76 billion euros ($12 billion) in Greek sovereign investments and loans, and WestLB’s Erste Abwicklungsanstalt, with 1.21 billion euros, bear more than half of German banks’ Greek debt, according to data compiled from company reports and statements.

A restructured Colorado Group will emerge from receivership as the newly named Fusion Retail Brands, flush with a $70 million capital expenditure and marketing war chest to drive its success in the tough retail environment, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The appearance of Fusion will help secure the future of flagship Australian brands that once made up the Colorado Group - Diana Ferrari, JAG, Mathers and Williams - as well as the company's 2200 staff working across 282 stores.

Elcoteq, the Finnish electronics manufacturer under insolvency proceedings, said on Tuesday it filed another subsidiary for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The group that assembles cellphones and set-top boxes said Elcoteq Network S.A., which handled its material purchases and customer invoicing in Europe, was no longer able to continue its activities after lenders blocked its bank accounts. The parent company said insolvency proceedings continued in Luxembourg. Last month Elcoteq filed three subsidiaries for bankruptcy due to a lack of funding. Its chief executive resigned earlier in August.

Slovenia’s left-leaning government was ousted in a parliament confidence vote Tuesday, further complicating Europe’s debt crisis as the small eurozone nation becomes more politically unstable, The Washington Post reported. Prime Minister Borut Pahor’s government faced the motion after months of disagreements between ruling coalition partners and several Cabinet resignations. The opposition has accused the government of corruption and mishandling the economy. The vote in the 90-seat assembly was 51 against the government and 36 for, with other lawmakers abstaining or being absent.

Greece said it had "a productive and substantive discussion" with its official creditors on Monday in talks aimed at releasing a new slice of bailout aid, and a Greek finance ministry official said an agreement was close, The Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. stocks, which had initially declined on Greek-induced gloom, recovered some of their losses late in the trading day after the Greek statement.