Headlines

Judge Stuart M. Bernstein on Wednesday approved Comercial Mexicana's exit from chapter 15 protection in the U.S., the final step in the Mexican supermarket chain's restructuring of $1.54 billion in debt, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported on Friday. The order brings an end to Comercial Mexicana's U.S. bankruptcy case, which was filed after the supermarket chain sought protection under Mexico's equivalent of chapter 11.

Fitch Ratings cut its rating on Portugal, citing concerns about a "deteriorating near-term economic outlook" and a "much more difficult financing environment" for the European nation's government and banks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The ratings agency also kept its ratings outlook negative, meaning future downgrades are possible, as it warned that additional measures might be needed to realize the government's deficit-reduction targets.

A Russian judge has convicted Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Yukos oil tycoon, and his former business partner, Platon Lebedev, of embezzlement and money laundering in a politically-charged trial that could keep the Kremlin foes in jail for six more years, the Financial Times reported today. Khodorkovsky’s lead defense lawyer immediately said his defense team would appeal, decrying the decision as prefabricated and claiming pressure had clearly been applied on the judge.

Ireland's minister for finance, Brian Lenihan, announced plans to effectively nationalize Allied Irish Banks PLC with a capital injection of €3.7 billion ($4.85 billion), giving the government ownership of more than 90 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Allied Irish Banks received €3.5 billion in state aid in 2009, but the bank needs another €3.7 billion by year end to meet its target of boosting its core Tier 1 capital to 8 percent of risk-weighted assets.

China raised interest rates for the second time in slightly over two months, signaling the authorities' resolve to combat rising inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The People's Bank of China said Saturday that it will raise the one-year yuan lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.81 percent from 5.56 percent, and the one-year yuan deposit rate to 2.75 percent from 2.50 percent. The move comes after the central bank raised on Oct.

State-owned shipbuilder Vinashin's default on a $600 million loan late last week is just the latest crisis challenging Communist-run Vietnam's ability to get its economy under control after years of pell-mell growth and spiraling inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Last week's default by shipbuilder Vinashin could be a make-or-break moment for Vietnam, say some analysts. Above, a ship is worked on at Vinashin's Nam Trieu shipyard in Hai Phong.

Net mortgage lending by U.K. banks was at its weakest in over 10 years in November as demand for new homes slowed, as is typical for this time of the year, data from the British Bankers Association showed on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Seasonally-adjusted net mortgage lending grew £1.5 billion ($2.31 billion) in October. That was the smallest increase since a £1.3 billion gain in August 1999 and compares with gains of £1.7 billion in October and £2.8 billion a year earlier.

Takeovers in Australia surged to a record this quarter, renewing investment bankers’ hopes that 2011 will uncork a backlog of deals in a commodities-led revival, Bloomberg News reported today. The value of announced acquisitions since Sept. 30 more than quadrupled from a year ago to $63 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the most since records began in 1998. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-biggest mining company, today offered A$3.9 billion ($3.9 billion) for Australian coking coal developer Riversdale Mining Ltd. Bank of America Corp. and Nomura Holdings Inc.

A New York State Judge has approved a debt restructuring deal between retailer Comercial Mexicana and its creditors, the company said yesterday in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange, Reuters reported yesterday. Comerci defaulted on its obligations in late 2008 following heavy losses on currency derivatives bets, triggering a bitter battle with its creditors. The supermarket operator's plan to repay creditors about $1.5 billion over eight years was approved by a Mexican court in late November. Comerci also filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States.

China plans to tighten up rules governing sponsors of initial public offerings (IPO) after a surge of new issues this year sparked concerns about the quality of disclosure in IPO prospectuses, Reuters reported today. Under the new rules, IPO sponsors will be interviewed by the securities regulator regarding the due diligence process of a new issue and IPO sponsors will also be required to complete a due diligence check-list and sign off a declaration that they are aware of the legal consequences of negligent acts.