Headlines

The Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek ordered a probe in the dominant Czech lottery firm Sazka after it failed to pay out a record jackpot, Reuters reported on an idnes.cz story. The indebted national lottery operator is facing insolvency claims by two major creditors who, along with another group of investors, are battling to take control over the firm. The investigation is expected to determine whether Sazka's lottery licence should be removed, the website said. Kalousek said it was preliminary to say whether Sazka would lose its licence, idnes.cz reported.

New data suggests Germany’s tough stance with Ireland may have its drawbacks — for German banks, the Real Time Brussels blog reported. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny clashed at a Brussels summit on Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her demands to raise Ireland’s low 12.5% corporate tax rate. European diplomats say this showdown is unlikely to end with Germany just giving up. However, another battle could be brewing, which could lead to a different result. Ireland was back in Brussels Monday.

The Air India board, in a meeting in Mumbai yesterday, cleared the debt restructuring plan of the airline, the Business Standard reported. The plan was prepared by SBI Capital market Ltd (SBICAPS) and vetted by financial advisory firm Delloite, after the Reserve Bank of India asked the airline to get it done by an independent firm. “The plan will now be discussed by the civil aviation ministry and the RBI, and our high-cost debt will be converted to low-cost.

Italian directory company Seat Pagine Gialle SpA bonds dropped Wednesday after the company published its full-year results and announced it intends to hire advisers for a process of "stabilization of its financial structure," Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Seat Pagine Gialle posted a EUR667.4 million net loss in 2010 compared with a EUR38 million net loss a year earlier. The company made a goodwill writedown of EUR673.8 million following an impairment test. The Italian yellow pages publisher is shifting its focus to the online business from the declining print directories market.

The acres of demolition rubble surrounding the faded glories of the Ferencváros football stadium on the outskirts of Budapest speak volumes for the state of the Hungarian economy, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. This stalled reconstruction project is one of dozens pointed out by the driver en route into town, all of them abandoned for lack of cash.

Spain is redoubling its efforts to lower the country's chronically high unemployment rate and labor costs this month, under intense pressure from the European Union and international investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. The reform received new impetus from an EU agreement last week on measures to boost employment, competitiveness and budget discipline among euro-zone countries.

The multi-million West Vancouver property with links to the Olympic Village is now up for sale, a company appointed as receiver said Tuesday, The Province reported. The receiver, the Vancouver-based Bowra Group, was appointed after a developer of the lands north of Park Royal defaulted on the $72 million mortgage. In December, B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Laura Gerow ordered that the property go into receivership effective Tuesday. The order had been sealed but was lifted Tuesday. David Bowra, president of the Bowra Group, said his task now is essentially to sell the property.

Ferrier Hodgson, voluntary administrators for Whitcoulls' parent, REDgroup, yesterday sought High Court approval to extend the time available to consider its options, The New Zealand Herald reported. Under the voluntary administration rules, a so-called "watershed" meeting, where creditors are advised of the state of play with the company, needs to be held five weeks after the appointment of a voluntary administrator, which would have made it March 24.

The cost of insuring Japanese government debt against default spiked by a third on Tuesday as world stock markets tumbled, The Guardian reported. Investors have calculated that the chance of a Japanese default has risen significantly since Friday's earthquake. As Japan battled to prevent a major nuclear crisis, the country's five-year credit default swap rose 31 basis points to 125bps. That means it would cost $125,000 to insure $10m of Japanese debt against default.

The unemployment rate has been revised sharply upwards in figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday. In the final quarter of 2010, the seasonally adjusted rate of joblessness was 14.7 per cent, the Irish Times reported. This is more than a full percentage point higher than previously estimated. The unemployment rate was up from the 13.7 per cent recorded three months earlier, according to the Quarterly National Household Survey. This was the largest quarter-on-quarter increase in joblessness in 18 months.