Headlines

Australia’s largest seller of solar panels, Solar Shop, has been placed in receivership and will be put up for sale, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. On Wednesday Ferrier Hodgson was appointed receivers and managers of the Adelaide-based business that employs 200 people directly and has a dozen display centres around the country. Ferrier partner John Lindholm said it would be business as usual while the receivers, acting on behalf of secured creditor Westpac, conducted an urgent review of the business, which also includes Solar Hut.

A Swedish court on Thursday rejected beleaguered carmaker Saab's request for protection from its creditors, pushing the company one step closer to bankruptcy, Agence France-Presse reported. The company is now at the mercy of its creditors, including its employees who have not been paid their August wages. "The Vaenersborg district court has today decided to reject Saab's ... request for a voluntary reorganisation process," the court said in a statement.

The search is on for new investment "safe havens" following Switzerland's blocking off of its franc, diverting flows into less traditional assets that may already be too expensive, Reuters reported in an analysis. The Norwegian crown, the Australian dollar and emerging market debt are all in the frame for increased investor attention as one of their favourites has at least temporarily been blocked off. This is in addition to the traditional harbours such as gold and U.S. Treasuries -- which are at or near record prices.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is seeking a meeting with European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet as he attempts to avoid repaying a $1 billion (€711.4 million) debt owed by Anglo Irish Bank, the Irish Times reported. The Minister declared three months ago that the International Monetary Fund was supporting his effort to impose big losses on the holders of unguaranteed, unsecured senior bonds in Anglo. Such bonds are a form of loan raised by banks on international money markets to fund their own lending operations.

Strains in the eurozone short-term lending markets have jumped sharply this week amid worries that the sovereign debt crisis will deepen, threatening the ability of banks to fund themselves, the Financial Times reported. The main gauge of tension in the funding markets has risen to levels last seen in April 2009 – and has leapt threefold since July – as banks hoard cash and refuse to lend to each other amid worries loans will not be repaid in a deteriorating financial climate.

Senior EU officials are speaking privately about a dangerous new phase in the two-year-old euro zone crisis. Greece - the spark for the conflagration - is close to intractable and Italy, the region's third largest economy and biggest bond market, is cause of grave concern, Reuters reported. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte provided perhaps the clearest indication yet that Greece's 10-year euro membership might not be forever, outlining on Wednesday a plan under which a member state could leave the currency bloc if it consistently and repeatedly ignored budget deficit and other obligations.

South Canterbury Finance's (SCF) receivership has seen the biggest taxpayer loss of any corporate failure in New Zealand's history, Labour MP David Cunliffe says. The country faces a net loss of $1.3 billion, and growing, following the collapse of SCF, the Labour finance spokesman said when visiting Timaru yesterday, Stuff.co.nz reported. He says the Government could have limited its loss to $500 million and took a shot at Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew's handling of the issue. She labelled his comments "distasteful".

Germany’s ability to come to the rescue of troubled European partners won crucial backing from the country’s constitutional court on Wednesday, a victory for Chancellor Angela Merkel that also provided at least a temporary reprieve for markets that had begun to worry that Europe’s common currency could collapse, the International Herald Tribune reported. The ruling, which defied some expectations that the court would hamstring Mrs.

The owner of cash-strapped car maker Saab filed for bankruptcy protection in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a brand crippled by production stoppages, withheld salary payments and mounting debt, The New Zealand Herald reported. Swedish Automobile, formerly known as Spyker Cars, said the move would buy it time to receive funding from Chinese investors, currently awaiting regulatory approval, and avoid bankruptcy.

Developer Ray Grehan, whose property interests have been put into receivership by the National Asset Management Agency, has said there is no incentive for him to stay in Ireland and repay his debts to the State loans agency. Mr Grehan said Nama would continue to pursue him for the full €650 million in property loans he owes even though the agency has removed his ability to repay his debts. “There is no future in today’s market in Ireland but there may be a future in 10 years’ time,” he told the Irish Times.