Headlines

Bahrain-based Awal Bank BSC, controlled by Saudi Arabia's Saad Group and Saudi businessman Maan Al-Sanea, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, Reuters reported. According to its Chapter 11 petition filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Awal has between $50 million and $100 million of assets, and more than $1 billion of liabilities. Saad Investments Co owns a 48 percent stake in the bank and Al-Sanea owns 47 percent, the petition shows.

More than one third of listed companies earn less than the interest they have to pay on outstanding debts, a state researcher claimed Thursday, The Korea Times reported. Lee Ji-eon, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Finance, claimed that 561 listed firms ― 36 percent of all the listed companies ― marked an interest coverage ratio below 100 percent in 2008 ― skyrocketing from 24 percent in 2004. An interest coverage ratio below 100 percent suggests that the company’s profit isn’t enough to meet interest payment obligations.

The Republic faces an interest bill of about €7 billion on its national debt next year, a senior Department of Finance official confirmed yesterday, The Irish Times reported. Speaking to the Dáil’s Committee on Public Accounts yesterday, the department’s secretary general, Kevin Cardiff, agreed under questioning that an estimate of €7.5 billion was “about right” for the interest bill faced by taxpayers on the national debt.

The British economist John Maynard Keynes may live on in popular legend as the world’s most influential economist.

The International Monetary Fund agrees with Greece's government that the costs of restructuring Athens' public debt load would outweigh any benefits, a top IMF official said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. "We agree with the Greek authorities and their European partners that the cost of debt restructuring far outweighs the benefits," IMF European Department Acting Director Ajai Chopra told a news conference. Chopra added that Greece's fiscal consolidation was on track but needed more work. Read more.

The chairman of Japan Airlines Corp. said Wednesday that the airline plans to boost its capital by another Y50 billion ($615.5 million) on top of an expected Y350 billion injection from a state-backed turnaround body as it restructures itself in bankruptcy, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Kazuo Inamori also said the company, together with the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp., is trying to drum up new loans from JAL's reluctant creditors as it plans to refinance its roughly Y300 billion debt by the end of March.

One of Australia's longest operating technology retailers, A&R Computer Services, has entered voluntary administration, CRN reported. A&R, which has operated in South Australia for twenty years, closed its doors on October 19. A&R's customer sales number featured a recorded message advising customers and business partners that the company has entered voluntary administration - with Paul Jorgensen of Kennedy and Co. taking the reins of the company.

Battling financier and rural services provider Allied Farmers has repaid its term loan facility with Westpac in full and reached agreement on outstanding debt to collapsed subsidiary Allied Nationwide Finance, The National Business Review reported. The company repaid the loan out of proceeds from the sale of former Hanover and United Finance assets acquired last December.

Dutch clothing brand Oilily says it’s bounced back from bankruptcy, pointing to the debut of its new kids’ clothing collection and its plans to launch a retail website geared toward U.S. shoppers, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. Oilily’s latest line of kids’ clothing is called the “Gypsy Tales of Freedom” collection. Shoppers at various retailers in 40 countries–including the U.S., China and Japan–can pick up brightly colored coats, striped stockings, dresses and slacks featuring handmade folk-style embroidery.

The European Commission wants to give regulators the power to convert debt issued by ailing banks into equity as they try to avert the collapse of failing institutions without leaning on taxpayers, The Irish Times reported. In the latest in a long line of far-reaching reform proposals from internal markets commissioner Michel Barnier, the EU executive also wants to give regulators the power to depose the management of vulnerable institutions, suspend dividend payments, force asset sales and compel an institution to implement a recovery programme.