Headlines

Self-described real estate king Don Ha is back running his former real estate and property management company that tipped into receivership in March, with $7 million in debt owed to Kiwibank, BusinessDay reported. Top One - a company owned by his family and friends and which he is a director of - were the successful bidders for buying the Manukau real estate agency from the receivers for $1.35m and it is now thought to be operating under the Rental One brand.

Wine merchant Oddbins' creditors are likely to be paid just 6p for every pound owed. The chain had proposed a rescue deal which would have paid 21p in the pound, but this was rejected by HM Revenue & Customs, forcing Oddbins into administration, The Scotsman reported. A statement of affairs filed by administrator Deloitte said creditors were now expected to receive less than a third of the return detailed in the rescue propsal, reports yesterday claimed. The retailer now stands at about 48 stores, after some 80 branches were sold or closed.

South Canterbury Finance receivers have announced the sale of subsidiary Face Finance to GE Capital. A statement issued by McGrathNicol did not disclose a price, but said the acquisition involved "over $100 million of commercial loan book assets", The National Business Review reported. At the time of receivership South Canterbury had advanced $196.84 million to Face. A purchase price was not disclosed, but according to the receivers first report Face had a loan book totalling $205.4 million, with $8.5 million impairments.

The Norman family are said to be close to clinching a deal to buy the Whitcoulls bookstore chain but have had to rethink part of the sales agreement. Whitcoulls, owned by REDgroup Retail, was put into voluntary administration in February and in March was being marketed for sale. BusinessDay understands the deal was close to being wrapped up but may stall over possibly one or more conditions. Sydney-based administrator Ferrier Hodgson would not comment on progress.

Slow decision-making by the government is weighing on the credit ratings of Tokyo Electric Power Co., analysts at Moody's Investors Service said Thursday, adding that any forced debt waiver by the embattled utility's creditors could result in it being downgraded to junk status, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Discord within the Democratic Party of Japan-led government over how to share the burden of compensation related to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has increased uncertainty over Tepco's ability to pay off its debt, the analysts said at a briefing.

Nama plans to launch a product for purchasers of residential properties in the autumn that will offer protection against the risk of negative equity in the future, the agency’s chairman, Frank Daly, said, the Irish Times reported. It is hoped that the initiative will help stimulate activity in the market. Mr Daly said Nama has identified concerns among debtors that house prices could continue to fall after they purchase a property as one of the “key impediments” to the sale of houses and apartments.

P Elliott, one of the largest construction companies in the State, has entered receivership with debts of more than half a billion euro, the Irish Times reported. Kieran Wallace and Cormac O’Connor of KPMG were appointed as receivers yesterday afternoon to P Elliott Company and a related company, Dewside Limited. While the receivers were appointed at the instigation of the directors of the company, they will work to retrieve money on behalf of Ulster Bank.

The government and banks are again at odds, amid fears that their three-month old Project Merlin peace deal is not delivering enough credit support to Britain’s smaller companies, the Financial Times reported. David Cameron warned banks this week to improve their lending to small and medium-sized companies or face new taxes, a threat which provoked an angry reaction in the City. Banks argue they only agreed to provide “lending capacity” of £190bn of gross new corporate loans – including £76bn for SMEs – and that there is little they can do in the absence of demand for new borrowing.

A series of youth rallies have swept across Spain's biggest cities ahead of this weekend's elections, with thousands calling for an overhaul of Spain's political system and economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The protesters, mostly unemployed, filled public squares in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia on Wednesday, and most left late Wednesday night, leaving only several hundred core protesters camped in city squares.

China's central bank said it will increase the role of interest rates this year in managing inflation expectations and regulating overall demand, The Wall Street Journal reported. The People's Bank of China also said that during the 12th five-year plan, which lasts until 2015, it will continue to loosen its interest-rate oversight by "gradually liberalizing the pricing rights of some financial products" at chosen financial institutions.