Headlines

Even as Europe’s leaders were praising the Irish government’s deficit-cutting efforts, the country received a dramatically different verdict Friday from a credit rating agency: a steep downgrade and a warning of more to come, the International Herald Tribune reported. Having pledged late Thursday to do “whatever is required” to contain the debt crisis and defend their embattled currency, European Union leaders reconvened for the final day of a summit meeting.

Europe's leaders endorsed plans for a new fund to rescue indebted euro-zone countries, and proposed treaty changes to make that possible, but failed to resolve deepening disagreements over whether more radical action is needed to quell a debt crisis that has raged on the region's fringe for more than a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Meeting in Brussels for the final 2010 summit, European Union leaders agreed to replace the region's emergency rescue fund, which ends in 2013, with a permanent crisis-finance program.

Creditors of Conergy are close to clinching a debt restructuring deal under which hedge funds York and Sothic Capital could gain control of the ailing solar company, two people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported. "Both parties are very close to an agreement," one person said, adding that a breakdown of talks between banks and hedge funds was no longer an option. Under to the deal, York and Sothic will own more than 70 percent in Conergy, while the current 29.08-percent stake of major shareholder Commerzbank will be reduced to about 9 percent, the people said.

One of Australia's largest luxury apartment tower projects has been voluntarily placed in receivership after the developer was unable to service its loans, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The company behind the $850 million Oracle Broadbeach complex was placed in receivership by Gold Coast developer Michael Nikiforides of Niecon yesterday. The luxury 505-apartment complex was the only project being developed by Niecon subsidiary South Sky Investments. The two-tower development houses the five-star Peppers Broadbeach Hotel, which opened for business just last month.

The Dutch Supreme Court ordered an end to KPNQwest's bankruptcy investigation, reducing the likelihood that administrators can recover 4.2 billion euros ($5.59 billion) in unpaid debt from shareholders KPN and Qwest, Reuters reported. KPNQwest, a wholesale fibre glass telecoms joint venture between U.S. phone carrier Qwest and Dutch telecoms group KPN for corporate customers, was listed in 1999 but went bankrupt in 2002 after the telecoms and technology bubble burst.

For months, Spain's residential mortgage sector has performed an impressive feat: Despite tumbling home prices and sky-high unemployment, just a small portion of mortgage borrowers have fallen behind on their payments. Now, some analysts and economists are wondering if Spain is in for a wave of defaults in coming months amid further job cuts meant to address the country's broader economic problems, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Embattled Auckland property developer Andrew Krukziener gave up a 10 year battle against Inland Revenue when he yesterday put himself into voluntary bankruptcy, The National Business Review reported. Mr Krukziener surrendered himself to the Official Assignee in Auckland shortly before noon on Thursday, his lawyer Bruce Stewart QC disclosed. Mr Stewart told NBR that Mr Krukziener's fight to satisfy creditors had now proven "too much" for him and he "could not handle it any longer". The Official Assignee has control of Mr Krukziener's affairs for three years.

Europe’s smoldering financial crisis flared up on Wednesday, with riots over austerity spending in Greece, new signs of troubles in Spain and little indication that European leaders were moving any closer to agreement on a systemic approach to long-term stability, the International Herald Tribune reported. The day’s events emphasized the complex social, political and economic challenges facing government leaders at a European Union summit meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

A seven-judge Supreme Court has begun hearing the appeal by property investor Paddy McKillen aimed at preventing the proposed transfer to the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) of some €2.1 billion in loans made to himself and his companies, the Irish Times reported. The proposed acquisition would be “a commercial disaster” for Mr McKillen and was based on a total denial of his constitutional right to fair procedures, Michael Cush, for Mr McKillen, argued yesterday.

The receiver for Pike River Coal says it could take a year for the company's insurance claim to be paid out, Radio New Zealand reported. The company went into receivership on Monday, more than three weeks after explosions begain at the West Coast mine in which 29 workers died. Receiver John Fisk of PriceWaterhouseCoopers says the calculations to lodge a claim under the company's business interruption insurance are still being worked on. He told Nine to Noon on Thursday the policy is worth $100 million but the amount paid out may be significantly less.