Headlines

A Japanese court on Friday approved a rehabilitation plan for failed consumer lender Takefuji, allowing the company to tie up with Korean consumer lender A&P Financial, according to Takefuji's website, Reuters reported. The plan, submitted by Takefuji's court-appointed trustee, was preferred to two competing schemes put forward by creditor groups. It faced opposition from creditors because of its structure, in which 1.5 trillion yen ($19 billion) of debt is held by 900,000 creditors who are either debt holders or customers asking for refunds of overcharged interest payments.

Receivers are to take control of housebuilder McInerney on behalf of three banks owed €113 million after the Supreme Court yesterday ruled against a rescue plan for the business backed by US private equity fund Oaktree Capital, the Irish Times reported. The ruling ends the process that began last August when the High Court appointed Bill O’Riordan of PricewaterhouseCoopers as examiner to five of the group’s Irish firms, and lifts the protection from creditors given to the business at that point.

With a new €109 billion ($157 billion) bailout for Greece, European leaders broke from their recent string of slow-paced half-measures to launch a frontal attack on a debt crisis that threatens to engulf the troubled country, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the greatest test is still to come: Does Europe yet have the tools to block the crisis from spreading deep into the Continent's core?

Ailing Swedish carmaker Saab on Friday appeared to have fended off a demand for one of its units to be declared bankrupt when it reached a settlement with a supplier, Reuters reported. Shares in Swedish Automobile, Saab's Dutch parent which has a stock market value of 35 million euros ($50 million), plunged 40 percent on news of the bankruptcy request, but were trading flat by 1438 GMT after the settlement. However, the supplier's action highlights Saab's precarious situation.

European leaders have agreed to loan Greece more than $140 billion over the next three years and have broadened efforts to support weakened governments and banks in the region in what they hope will be a convincing response to a lingering financial crisis, The Washington Post reported. The measures approved in Brussels are meant to put Greece on a more sustainable footing and convince world markets that the country — and indeed every other nation that shares the euro as currency — will pay its debts.

Vitro SAB bondholders say the Mexican glass maker lost something in translation of a Mexican court's recent ruling: a few key phrases that could weaken the company's position in a Texas bankruptcy court, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The bondholders said Vitro filed an inaccurate translation Wednesday of the ruling with the U.S. Bankruptcy in Dallas in an attempt to allow the company's general counsel and his assistant to serve as key representatives in U.S. courts.

China's largest offshore oil and gas producer plans to spend $2.1 billion US buying Opti Canada Inc. in a move expected to inject cash into the troubled Long Lake oilsands project, in which the beleaguered Calgary firm has a stake, the Calgary Herald reported. The deal announced by state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.

The chief executive of Superquinn, Andrew Street, has resigned just two days after the company went into receivership and was sold to the Musgraves chain, RTÉ News reported. Receivers Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG were appointed by Bank of Ireland, AIB and National Irish Band - and the company had around €400m in debt. In an email circulated by Mr Street this morning, he said the banks had selected this process to secure the maximum amount of the sale proceeds for themselves.

Queensland property franchise Go Gecko has been placed into voluntary administration, but the company says its franchisees will be unaffected by the move, StartupSmart reported. Go Gecko was founded in 2006 by Geoff Doyle and operates more than 50 outlets across the country, describing itself as the “pioneers of capped commission real estate”. It’s been revealed the Brisbane-based company called in administrators on Tuesday, highlighting the tough conditions plaguing the property market.

Halliwells' administrators have launched a claim in the High Court against a group of former partners in a bid to reclaim more than £21m gained through a controversial 'reverse premium' property payout, LegalWeek.com reported. BDO launched the claim against Halliwells' former chairman Ian Austin and 31 other ex-partners in the Chancery Division of the High Court earlier this month (4 July). Addleshaw Goddard is advising BDO on the £21.13m claim, with litigation firm Peters & Peters acting for 30 of the 32 defendants.