Headlines

Russian state-owned bank Sberbank is seeking a seat on the board of failed Kazakh bank BTA, the head of Kazakhstan's national welfare fund, Kairat Kelimbetov, said on Friday. "The talks are only with Sberbank," Kelimbetov, who also has a seat on Sberbank's supervisory board, told Reuters. "We are formulating a plan for the next 2-3 years." The welfare fund owns BTA. Sberbank has been in talks to take over the bankrupt Kazakh lender, one of the largest in the oil rich central Asian state. If it takes a board seat it would likely signal the takeover is ready to proceed.

A bankruptcy judge on Friday refused to approve a $500 million financing deal for AbitibiBowater Inc. as long as that deal grants key investor Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. immunity from a possible legal challenge, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge Kevin J. Carey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., said he would approve the financing deal, which AbitibiBowater claims is essential to its effort to raise more than $1 billion to fund it emergence from Chapter 11, if the company dropped the Fairfax release.

Japan’s ruling Democratic party on Thursday made fiscal consolidation a centrepiece of its latest election manifesto, with Naoto Kan, prime minister, signalling a possible doubling of the 5 per cent consumption tax, the Financial Times reported. The moves underscored Mr Kan's determination to make reining in state debt a top government priority, a policy stance that is winning his new DPJ administration friends among business groups.

Germany wants to see the results of stress tests for banks in the European Union to be made public in an effort to restore market confidence, a finance ministry official said Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The comment marks a turn-about in Germany's position - previously it had opposed publication of the tests checking the banks' stability, citing fears the results could spook investors.

Christchurch developer Dave Henderson has lost control of Hotel So after South Canterbury Finance (SCF) placed three of his companies into receivership, The Press reported. SCF appointed receivers to Cashel Ventures, Hotel So Operations and Hotel So Corporation, which respectively own and operate Henderson's 283-room hotel on Cashel St. Henderson is the sole director of all three companies, with his flagship company, Property Ventures, owning two and Henderson indirectly owning the third.

Movie Gallery Inc. said Wednesday that its Canadian subsidiary has begun liquidating all 181 of its video rental stores, including 50 stores that were potentially up for sale but no longer are, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported on an Associated Press story. Net proceeds from the sale of inventory worth an estimated 48 million Canadian dollars ($47 million) will be used to fund a proposal by the company to pay its Canadian creditors, including landlords and employees, Movie Gallery said. The Canadian unit, Movie Gallery Canada Inc., is not in bankruptcy proceedings.

The payroll crisis at City Hall could be deeper than initially thought after it emerged that more than a third of its 12,000 workers are either dead, inexistent or serving on forged papers, Business Daily Africa reported. In the first hint of the findings of a PricewaterhouseCoopers staff audit carried out in February, Town Clerk Philip Kisia said on Thursday there were 4.215 illegal workers who would be cut off from the payroll. The move would save the council some Sh2.5 billion annually, bringing it closure to financial independence.

Argentina's government on Thursday stepped in to run the country's biggest natural gas distribution company, Metrogas SA, after Metrogas said it doesn't have enough cash to make debt payments and filed for bankruptcy protection in a local court, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Argentina's Planning Ministry rejected Metrogas' pleas for a tariff increase, instead blaming the company's heavy debt load undertaken prior to an economic collapse of 2001, and which it said "bears no relation" to Metrogas' investments.

The auction of Italian fashion house Gianfranco Ferre, one of Milan's top designer names, was launched on Wednesday by the special commissioners running parent company IT Holding. A call for bids comes the day before the third anniversary of the death of Gianfranco Ferre, known for his signature "architectural" style in suits and jackets and his trademark white shirts. IT Holding went into administration in February 2009 after running out of cash. In a notice published in newspapers, the three overseers set a July 6 deadline to submit binding offers for Ferre and an Aug.

Car parts supplier Vorwerk Autotec has renewed its interest in insolvent German peer Karmann's roof business, having lost out in a previous auction earlier this year, Reuters reported. Previously, at least four suitors were in the race for the insolvent company, including Vorwerk Autotec, financial group Nordwind Capital, Canada's Magna International and CIE Automotive. In May Magna's leading bid was blocked by German competition authorities.