Headlines

Ireland's parliament late Wednesday passed legislation to instruct financial institutions to sell assets and to impose losses on banks' subordinated creditors, as part of a plan to restructure the country's banking system agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund, Dow Jones reported. The Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill passed the final stage of voting in the lower house of parliament, or Dail, by a majority of 78 votes to 71. The ruling Fianna Fail-led coalition passed the bill with the help of Green Party and Independent lawmakers.

Deutsche Telekom AG and Vivendi SA Wednesday settled a years-long legal battle over Polish mobile-phone operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, or PTC, giving the German company sole ownership and freeing up more cash for Vivendi to spend on buying out minority stakes in its domestic subsidiaries, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Under the settlement, Deutsche Telekom will pay another EUR1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) in total to Vivendi and Polish conglomerate Elektrim SA, which as a result of the payment will exit bankruptcy proceedings, giving Deutsche Tekekom 100% ownership.

Former Hanover director Mark Hotchin has had his New Zealand assets frozen by order of the High Court, on application from the Securities Commission, The National Business Review reported. A Securities Commission statement said the application was granted without notice to Mr Hotchin on Friday. Mr Hotchin intended to apply to revoke these orders, the statement said. A hearing is expected in February 2011.

Leading German biodiesel producer EOP Biodiesel AG said on Tuesday it had declared insolvency, Reuters reported. The company said in a statement it had been unable to reach agreement with its banks about finance. EOP produces 132,000 tonnes of biodiesel annually at a plant in Pritzwalk in eastern Germany. In October, the company stopped biodiesel production following damage to a gear unit at its oil mill. Read more.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said it would have been "galling" to have paid €40 million in bonuses to AIB staff at a time when the Government was asking everyone in the country to make sacrifices, the Irish Times reported. Mr Lenihan said this morning he had written to AIB yesterday informing it that further investment by the taxpayer was conditional on the non-payment of any bonuses, no matter when they may have been earned. He said using taxpayers' funding to pay the bonuses was "unacceptable".

Vietnam's beleaguered state-run shipbuilding company does not have enough money to make a $60 million loan payment next week, and has asked foreign creditors for more time to pay, state-run media reported Tuesday. Nguyen Ngoc Su, chair of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, is quoted in the online newspaper VietnamNet as saying that he informed creditors on Dec. 10 that it will be impossible for the company to make the first repayment of principal due Dec. 20 on a $600 million loan from a group of creditors led by Credit Suisse.

Mexican glassmaker Vitro, which has been struggling with high debt and falling sales, said it filed a restructuring plan with a local court, Reuters reported. The Monterrey-based company, which makes everything from beer bottles to perfume containers for international luxury brands, also said on Tuesday that it would seek protection from creditors under a Chapter 15 proceeding in U.S. courts once a Mexican judge approves its plan. Vitro's initiative calls for the restructuring of $1.5 billion of debt with a combination of new notes due 2019, convertible bonds and a cash payment.

Officials running the European insolvency proceedings of Nortel Networks Corp. are threatening to sue Nortel's U.S. unit for allegedly stripping value from the company's European divisions and diverting it to other areas of the company, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a filing with the court overseeing the bankruptcy of the U.S. unit, the court-appointed administrators responsible for Nortel's European units say they need to beat the clock to begin legal action in Ireland and Britain. Time may run out as soon as Dec.

Germany's Schiesser AG said Monday a relevant local district court has approved its insolvency plan, removing the last obstacle to the company's planned initial public offering, or IPO, Nasdaq.com reported on a Dow Jones story. In November, the lingerie, sportswear and swimwear company said it aimed to list in the prime standard segment of the German stock exchange, naming equinet Bank AG and private bank BHF-Bank as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners of the IPO.

Property developer John Fleming has filed for bankruptcy to a British court, which will allow him to emerge from the process after a year, compared with up to 12 years under the Irish system, the Irish Times reported. The Cork developer, whose construction and investment firms owe €1 billion to their banks, is the first of Ireland’s major developers to make such a move. A receiver is now in control of Mr Fleming’s finances, following a declaration of bankruptcy in an Essex court. The petition gives the address of Mr Fleming and his wife as Billericay in Essex, England.