Headlines

Kenya’s Treasury has promised the International Monetary Fund a three-year public sector wage freeze, setting up government employees for a tough sail in an economy expected to come under increasing inflationary pressure, Business Daily Africa reported. The deal is part of the conditions for disbursement of the Sh40 billion that the IMF and bilateral donors have promised Kenya to help shield the economy from forex rate fluctuation.

Fraser Papers' restructuring plan, and the sale of its U.S. subsidiaries to Brookfield Asset Management, appear to be in the final stages of a painful journey that began nearly two years ago, The Canadian Press reported. Under an amended plan, worked out early this year after the original restructuring was rejected, will see Brookfield — Fraser Paper's majority shareholder — continue to have a major stake in the remaining operating assets. Fraser Papers said Tuesday its creditors will receive about US$44 million in unsecured notes issued by Twin Rivers Paper Company Inc.

The tough times afflicting the fashion and retail industry have claimed a high-profile scalp, ABC News reported. Covers, founded by the design duo Marilyn Said and Barry Taffs in 1978, has gone into voluntary administration. The editor of Ragtrader magazine, Assia Benmedjdoub, says it is a sign of the times. Management at Covers did not respond to interview requests from the ABC. But it is clear they are not the only ones struggling. Benmedjdoub says even businesses that survived the global financial crisis are still trimming their margins in order to make ends meet.

Korea Line Corp said it has started restructuring after a local court approved placing the financially-strapped dry bulk group in receivership, Reuters reported. South Korea's second-biggest dry bulk shipping line filed for bankruptcy protection in late January, struggling with high-cost charter contracts amid a sharp drop in freight rates since the economic turmoil of 2008. This had rocked confidence in the shipping industry and provoked fears that other bulk shippers may be exposed to Korea Line, weighing on their shares.

Defunct law firm Halliwells owes unsecured creditors more than £190m, according to the latest report from administrators BDO, Legalweek.com reported. To date BDO has received claims worth £191.5m from unsecured creditors. Landlord and lease creditors account for £182.2m of claims received to date, with HM Revenue & Customs the next largest creditor with some £4.3m in taxes and £1.1m in VAT. The debt figure is significantly higher than the £14.1m originally thought to be owed to unsecured creditors.

Euro zone finance ministers have eliminated the prospect of any move to impose losses on senior bondholders in Ireland’s banks, economics commissioner Olli Rehn said, the Irish Times reported. Although Fine Gael and Labour each say they would compel the highest-ranked bank bondholders to bear “haircuts” on their investment if they won the election, the commissioner said Ireland’s European sponsors see no possibility to pursue that path.

Four officials of Concrete Equities, a now-defunct Calgary company that raised $118 million to buy commercial real estate, are under scrutiny as the Alberta Securities Commission tries to determine whether they misled investors, the Calgary Herald reported. Monday, lawyers for the ASC outlined the case they hope to prove, which includes investors who were promised returns of more than 600 per cent and told the investments were risk free, as well as those who weren't told of marketing commissions of between seven and 10 per cent being paid to Concrete Equities.

Dutch bioscience company Pantarhei intends to bid for the bulk of U.S. company Merck's Netherlands-based bioscience research unit Organan, the Dutch Financieele Dagblad reported on Monday, Reuters reported. Pantarhei Bioscience director Herjan Coeling Bennink, told the paper that Pantarhie can make the proposal as a result of backing from international private equity investors. No financial details were provided. The private equity investors were not named either.

Anglo Irish Bank has told David Drumm’s bankruptcy proceedings in the US that it intends to sue him for his role in the treatment of Seán FitzPatrick’s loans and other controversial matters at the bank, the Irish Times reported. The bank has said it is going to pursue a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against its former chief executive arising from alleged misconduct and deception.

Top European Union officials signaled Monday that the bloc's new bailout fund for troubled countries will be able to lend €500 billion ($677 billion)—nearly twice the current pool of money—but cautioned that agreement would only come in concert with accord on a constellation of related economic issues, The Wall Street Journal reported. On those, there were few signs of progress at a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers Monday.