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G Steel Plc, a financially troubled hot-rolled coil maker, will float 8.85 billion new shares in a debt-for-equity swap with creditors as part of its $534-million debt restructuring plan, the Bangkok Post reported. The firm, founded in 1995 by Somsak Leeswadtrakul, reported a loss of 8.58 billion baht last year on revenues of 25.1 billion, compared with a 2008 loss of 1.23 billion on revenues of 41.7 billion. Chief executive Ahab Garas, appointed the head of G Steel in early February, said bond holders and trade creditors would ultimately hold 40% of the company's stock.
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Ireland will on Tuesday begin operating a new “bad bank” to house €81 billion in bad property loans left over from the financial crisis and set out new capital requirements that are expected to see the further nationalisation of its banking sector, the Financial Times reported. Irish bank shares fell sharply on Monday amid fears that the new financial requirements could prove crippling.
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The directors of biotechnology company Botry-Zen Ltd have resigned, saying there is unlikely to be any assets remaining once receivers have finished their job, The National Business Review reported. "The board again expresses its disappointment that, due to a lack of capital, it was unable to see to fruition the good work done, and investment made, by many people over a number of years." The directors said their resignation would be effective from March 30. The biotechnology company, which was floated on the New Zealand share market in 1991, was placed in receivership in December.
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A 38-year-old road freight company has gone into voluntary administration ahead of a potential restructuring or trade sale of the business, <em>The Sydney Morning Herald</em> reported. Fletchers Freighters, which began in 1948 moving fresh produce, was placed in administration late on Sunday. Voluntary administrators Sam Davies and Rob Kirman of McGrathNicol said on Monday they now had control of the assets and business of the company and were assessing its operations.
Canwest Global Communications Corp. won an extension of its bankruptcy protection in Canada to June 15 to give it time to work out the sale of its television unit, the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em> reported. Ontario Superior Court Judge Sarah E. Pepall granted the extension today after a hearing in Toronto. Canwest, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, agreed to sell part of its television business to Shaw Communications Inc. for C$95 million ($93.2 million).
Geneva Finance is planning to raise more money from investors, but admits it will have to work hard to regain investors' trust first, Radio New Zealand reported. On Monday, the finance company's 3000 debenture note and capital note holders overwhelmingly approved a plan that will see repayments spread over a further three years.
The euro zone's decision to include the International Monetary Fund in any Greek rescue plan extends the Fund's influence to a large swath of the world economy—and gives a political boost to its managing director, The Wall Street Journal reported. Over the past two years, the IMF has worked with the European Union to bail out EU members, including Latvia and Hungary. Now it is clear that the IMF mandate reaches also to Portugal, Spain and other troubled members of the 16-nation euro zone, said Domenico Lombardi, a Brookings Institution expert on the IMF.
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Remember Yukos, Russia’s biggest oil firm, which was bankrupted by improbable tax claims and then dismembered in bogus auctions? The Russian government would rather that you did not, The Economist reported. Although it has expunged Yukos from official registers, the firm’s ghost is haunting the Kremlin and its state oil company, Rosneft, which swallowed Yukos’s assets. In the past few weeks this ghost has been particularly active, making appearances in several European and American courts, demanding retribution and winning injunctions against Rosneft.
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Cabin crew at Aer Lingus voted yesterday to accept the terms of a controversial €97 million cost-saving plan, The Irish Times reported. This reversed the result of a previous vote by the crew, and means all five union groups at the airline have now accepted the plan, which is aimed at shaving 7.5 per cent off Aer Lingus’s cost base. The acceptance by Impact cabin crew averts the threat of 230 compulsory redundancies. It also removes any possibility of industrial action by staff.
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Successful cross-border vehicle company mergers can be counted on the fingers of one hand. When one famous car brand buys another – whether General Motors and Saab, Daimler and Chrysler, or Ford and Volvo – one of the most common by-products is buyer remorse, the Financial Times reported. Perhaps Sunday’s Geely-Volvo deal will go down in automotive history as just another mergers and acquisitions lemon – or maybe it will help make Geely a household name. Either way, the $1.8bn deal is likely to mark a significant shift in the global industry, to the East.
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