Headlines

Russian cardboard mogul Boris G. Zingarevich has purchased the electric-car manufacturer Think Global AS, marking yet another financial revival for a company that’s faced demise several times throughout its 20-year existence, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. Previously owned by Norwegian investors who picked it up from Ford Motor Co., the Think brand will now be marketed by the newly created Electric Mobility Solutions AS, and production of the eye-catching two-door cars is set to begin in the first quarter of 2012. Terms of the deal weren’t released.

Korean policymakers are at a loss. For seven months they chucked everything plus the kitchen sink at the beast of inflation, only to be kicked in the teeth by alarming consumer price index (CPI) figures that underscored the futility of their efforts, The Korea Times reported. Breathing heavily on the ropes, government officials are desperately scrambling for more options to fight back against higher prices. But it’s unclear whether there is anything left to do when their actions are beginning to test the limits of political and economic acceptability.

Blue Star Print Group's board has reiterated that if proposed restructuring, including a haircut for bondholders, is not accepted banks will likely call in receivers, The National Business Review reported. The warning, in a statement from the group's board, said "if Bondholders reject the offer, it would likely result in a complete loss of principal." "The Board's expectation is that, following a no vote, Blue Star's banks will immediately move to protect their interests, likely through the appointment of a receiver ...

Bank of Ireland has been saved from possible government control by a group of overseas institutional investors that has agreed to buy up to €1.12bn ($1.6bn) of the troubled lender’s shares, the Financial Times reported. Wilbur Ross, the US billionaire, a large Canadian firm and a number of US fund managers are thought to be among the investors that have committed to buy a stake of up to 37.3 per cent in the bank. The agreement came a day before the planned completion of a €1.9bn rights issue that could have pushed the government’s 36 per cent stake up to almost 70 per cent.

Investors are worried about the health of China's banks. They're afraid—with good reason—that the massive, state-directed lending binge that was instrumental in pumping up China's GDP figures the past two and a half years will end up producing an equally massive pile of bad debt, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary. Barely a week goes by without new word of a troubled project or impending default. Never fear, say the banks and some analysts.

Financial regulator Matthew Elderfield has repeated his call for further measures to be put in place to ensure bank balance sheets reflect underlying risks more accurately, the Irish Times reported. Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, this afternoon, Mr Elderfield said his office would require banks to ensure any potential impairment from future disposals "is recognised as fully and as early as possible". The regulator also backed continuing support for struggling mortgage holders and reform of bankruptcy laws.

The number of British retailers falling into administration rose 8 percent in the second quarter on a year ago and will continue climbing as consumers are squeezed by rising prices and government cut backs, consultants Deloitte said, Reuters reported. Some 43 retailers, including wine chain Oddbins, home improvements group Focus DIY and fashion chain Jane Norman, entered administration -- a form of protection from creditors -- in the March-June quarter, Deloitte said on Monday.

Cyprus's government agreed on a series of austerity measures, seeking to avoid a bailout after a blast at its largest power station this month has led to rolling blackouts, compounding its existing economic problems, such as its close ties with Greece, The Wall Street Journal reported. The country was already wrestling with modest growth and possible contagion from Greece, which received a second euro-zone bailout Thursday, when a blast July 11 reduced Vasilikos, the island nation's largest power plant, to twisted metal and rubble.

Spanish savings bank Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM) secured EU regulatory approval on Monday for 5.8 billion euros ($8.3 billion) in state aid and must submit a restructuring plan within six months, Reuters reported. State-backed bank restructuring fund FROB will provide a 2.8 billion euro capital injection to CAM, one of five Spanish banks which this month failed a European Banking Authority stress test. The fund will also give CAM a 3 billion euro liquidity facility, the European Commission said.

Vitro SAB won U.S. recognition of its ongoing Mexican restructuring proceeding, a decision that shields U.S. assets from debt collection attempts by angry creditors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge Harlin D. Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas signed off on the Mexican glass maker's Chapter 15 petition Thursday. Read more. (Subscription required.)