Headlines

Insolvent U.K. maintenance and building services group Rok PLC's administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers Tuesday announced a further 1,800 layoffs, in the firm's maintenance and improvements division, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. PwC said its construction and social housing division in England remains unaffected as it continues to pursue a sale of this part of the business.

Senior European officials laid the groundwork for a bailout of Ireland that could reach €100 billion ($136 billion), saying experts would travel this week to Dublin to examine the country's finances amid alarm about the dire straits of the Irish banking system, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several euro-zone countries urged Ireland to adopt an aid package, according to people familiar with the matter, and some pressed for the package to include direct loans from the U.K. alongside assistance from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.

The Commercial Court has rejected an application by Aya Bakery to block being put under receivership and paying a sh2b arbitral award to Roko Construction, NewVision.co.ug reported. The head of the Commercial Court, Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, ruled that Enoth Mugabi of Mugabi and Company Advocates, who was appointed receiver of the Aya Bakery, should, instead, immediately enter the premises and prepare a statement of affairs of the company and file his findings in court.

Japan Airlines Corp said Monday it will terminate the employment contracts of up to 250 pilots and cabin attendants after its additional voluntary retirement program failed to meet its job reduction target, Japan Today reported. The decision by JAL, which is restructuring under court protection, and its bankruptcy administrator, the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan, comes as the airline is aiming to obtain court approval for its restructuring plans by the end of this month.

A decision in proceedings taken by a US bankruptcy trustee involving Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm was adjourned yesterday to allow the judge time to consider matters, the Irish Times reported. Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne reserved her decision on an application on behalf of Massachusetts trustee Kathleen Dwyer for an “order in aid” from the High Court to assist her in administering Mr Drumm’s bankruptcy. The judge said she needed time to consider the case. Mr Drumm filed for bankruptcy in Massachusetts on October 14th.

A receiver has been appointed over McNamara Construction, after Nama rejected the business plan put forward by the group, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The firm is owned by Bernard McNamara, who took over from his father Michael in the 1940s. One of the company’s big breaks was the construction of RTÉ’s sports and social club on its Donnybrook campus. Other state contracts followed. It soon became one of the biggest construction companies in the state.

The European Union will give state-controlled German lender WestLB AG more time to create a new restructuring plan as it continues to investigate the bank's use of state aid, the EU's competition chief said Monday. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told journalists that Berlin is prepared to make difficult decisions regarding WestLB. "We are ready to do it and use the next three months to find solutions," he said.

As the European Union attempts to force it to accept an aid package, Ireland’s government is close to being unable to sell its debt on the open market, a fate that befell Greece last spring, the Financial Times reported. Bond spreads in Spain, Italy and Portugal are also rising, with the Portuguese finance minister warning on Monday that his country may have to accept a rescue package too. In the short term the EU will kick the can down the road via a temporary Irish bail-out, just as it did with Greece. It is likely to do the same with Portugal.

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine in northern Tasmania has until 5pm today to find another joint venture partner or face liquidation, ABC News reported. The mine is on the brink of receivership for the second time in a month. BCD Resources, formerly Beaconsfield Gold, first struck trouble, when a merger with Bendigo Mining failed. Perth-based Minemakers Limited bailed them out with a loan of up to $15 million. So far Minemakers has given them $8.5 million, but Managing Director Andrew Drummond now says the Beaconsfield mine is losing money too quickly.

An investor in the private equity consortium bidding for EBS building society – one of two final bidders for the lender – says that debt forgiveness for its borrowers would only be considered in limited cases or not at all, The Irish Times reported. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who is part of the consortium led by Dublin-based Cardinal Capital Group, said he was still optimistic about EBS and Ireland, despite fears of a further wave of mortgage losses and the debt crisis.