Headlines

Britain's Connaught has called in administrators to its main social housing unit after government cuts caused contract deferrals that spiralled into financial difficulties, Reuters reported. Connaught, which employs 10,000 people, said after the market close on Tuesday that its lenders would not extend support to the group as a whole. "As a consequence, the board is saddened to announce that it is in the process of appointing partners from KPMG as administrators of Connaught Plc and its subsidiary, Connaught Partnerships Limited," it said in a statement.

The Irish businesses of ICT services group Calyx have gone into receivership, The Irish Times reported. The formerly-listed company will continue to trade as a going concern while a buyer is sought. Tom Kavanagh of Irish insolvency practice KavanaghFennell has been appointed receiver. The Calyx Group, which employs more than 500 people in Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland, was placed in administration on September 3rd. Geoff Rowley and Phil Armstrong, partners at FRP Advisory LLP, were appointed joint administrators of the business in the UK and Northern Ireland.

Ireland's government is seeking European support to stabilize tottering Anglo Irish Bank, hoping to end a recurring banking nightmare that has sparked fresh fears about its national finances, The Wall Street Journal reported. Struggling with the euro zone's biggest budget deficit relative to its gross domestic product at more than 14% last year, Irish authorities are also grappling with the ballooning cost of bailing out the banks, especially state-owned Anglo Irish—a bill that has already hit €33 billion ($42.55 billion), or roughly 20% of Ireland's GDP.

Greece still faces a “substantial” default risk as insolvency prevents the nation from repaying its debt when its bailout program expires in three years, Pacific Investment Management Co. fund manager Andrew Bosomworth said, Bloomberg reported. “Greece is insolvent,” Bosomworth, Munich-based head of portfolio management at Pimco, which oversees the world’s largest bond fund, said in a telephone interview today.

Europe's recent "stress tests" of the strength of major banks understated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky government debt, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. As part of the tests, 91 of Europe's largest banks were required to reveal how much government debt from European countries they held on their balance sheets. Regulators said the figures showed banks' total holdings of that debt as of March 31. At the time, worries about banks' government-debt holdings were fanning fears about the health of Europe's banking system as a whole.

Sweden's Vastra Gotaland region said Saab, owned by Dutch group Spyker, must pay its $15 million bill from the government by Sept. 20 or it will ask the public debt collector to enforce payment, Reuters reported. The bill is from a period when Saab Automobile was under administration and the government of Vastra Gotaland in western Sweden, home to Saab's main production plant, stepped in to cover wages. Vastra Gotaland Governor Lars Backstrom said on Monday that Saab owed it 110.7 million crowns ($15.3 million).

The timber investment company Willmott Forests has collapsed, owing about $520 million, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The company, which had been suspended from the stock exchange since July 1, went into receivership yesterday after failing to strike a deal with its bankers, Commonwealth Bank and St George. The banks, who are owed about $120 million, yesterday appointed receivers Mark Korda, Mark Mentha and Bryan Webster of KordaMentha.

Mexico's government is hopeful that the troubles of grounded airline company Mexicana will be resolved in time for the December travel season, when millions of local and foreign tourists will flock to resorts such as Cancun for holidays, a government official said. "Our goal must be that Mexicana returns to the skies by the December high season," Labor Minister Javier Lozano said at a press conference Wednesday, according to a transcript from the ministry, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

Halliwells partners look set to be asked to repay more than £2m in additional bank loans taken in 2010 as further details of the now-defunct firm's finances and partner liabilities emerge, LegalWeek.com reported. The firm conducted a voluntary cash call at the beginning of the year which saw 28 partners contribute a total of £2.3m, facilitated by professional practice loans (PPLs) taken out from The Co-operative Bank. Partners put in varying amounts depending on whether they had received a payout on completion of the firm's new offices in Spinningfields.

A Barclays PLC accounting executive said Thursday that the $45.5 billion price placed on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collateral was a fair-market number reached after valuing Lehman assets, not an agreed upon discount price to sweeten the deal for Barclays, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Gary Romain, head of technical accounting for Barclays, testified Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan in Lehman's lawsuit accusing Barclays of arranging a "secret" $5 billion discount when it purchased Lehman's broker-dealer unit in September 2008.