Headlines

An ocean of red ink has sunk a company that owns several wineries, vineyards and orchards in the south Okanagan, Global Saskatoon reported. The Lang, Soaring Eagle and Stonehill Estate wineries in Naramata, all owned by Holman Lang Vineyards, are now in receivership and are for sale. The company expanded rapidly during the wine industry boom from 2000 to 2007 and was struggling under a crushing $15 million bank debt. A Vancouver accounting firm has been appointed to sell the properties and estimates the company’s assets at approximately $23 million.

Lending by lightly regulated financial companies outside China's formal banking system has ballooned this year, causing increasing headaches for the government in its efforts to manage the economy and control inflation, observers say, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's government has traditionally used its control of the largely state-owned banking sector to regulate the country's pace of economic growth, directing it to pump out cheap credit in good times and restricting the volume of new loans to prevent overheating.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.’s Australian unit exited bankruptcy protection after winning approval of its restructuring from creditors, the company said, Bloomberg reported. Management and control of the unit reverts to the directors, Krispy Kreme Australia said in an e-mailed statement today. Creditors can file claims against a A$2.3 million ($2.2 million) fund that was approved as part of the restructuring and will probably receive 45 cents for each dollar they’re owed, the company said.

With markets increasing pressure on Spain, Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is running out of the political capital necessary to force through difficult reforms that could ease investor concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported. in the wake of Ireland's €67.5 billion ($88.7 billion) bailout, sovereign-debt concerns have risen in Spain and Portugal. Pressure is building on Mr.

Former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive David Drumm will have to testify about his assets and conduct running the fallen Irish financial giant, under a deal his attorneys struck in bankruptcy court in Boston on Thursday, Reuters reported. The testimony could paint a much fuller picture of the life that Drumm has been living in Massachusetts after stepping down from the helm of Anglo-Irish at the end of 2008, just before the government nationalized the bank. The collapse of the bank was among the factors leading the country to seek an emergency international aid package last month.

A bankruptcy judge cleared Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to sell its Brazil investment business, Libro Companhia Securitizadora de Creditos Financeiros, for nearly $15.9 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, approved of the sale Wednesday to a firm called Jive Investments Holding Ltd. In his order, Peck said that Jive's offer was the "highest and best" available and that the sale was in the best interest of Lehman and its creditors.

ATEBank will reduce its workforce by 1,000 persons, cut payouts by 10%, shut down branches and sell all its non-bank holdings as part of its restructuring plan, Capital.gr reported. The state run bank will go through a triple merger with the Loans and Consignments Fund (LCF) and the Hellenic Postbank so as to create a strong state run banking pillar. The plan includes restructuring of ATE, which must get rid of its non-bank holdings while the LCF will be cut in two. From this procedure, an SA in the form of a bank will emerge that will merge with ATEBank.

Canada’s $4-billion infrastructure stimulus program was launched with a single focus in mind: jobs. Now, after surveying those who actually received the federal cash, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page gives the program poor marks on that goal, The Globe and Mail reported. The survey reinvigorates an unresolved debate that has long pitted the free-market disciples of classic liberal economic thinking against the post-Great Depression view popularized by British economist John Maynard Keynes that government intervention and deficits in hard times work.

Former financial regulator Pat Neary has told one of the investigations into Anglo Irish Bank that it was not surprising banks would carry out transactions to put “a gloss” on their published accounts. Mr Neary also told investigators he was never shown in advance a balance sheet for Anglo for the year ending September 30th, 2008, by anyone at the bank, the Irish Times reported. The investigations are examining the €7 billion in deposits placed with the bank by Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) over the bank’s 2008 financial year-end.

Spain and Italy, the countries that with Portugal appear most at risk from being enveloped by the euro zone's deepening debt turmoil, are leading an effort to spur more decisive action from the European Central Bank in order to prevent the crisis from spreading further, The Wall Street Journal reported. A €67.5 billion ($88.2 billion) bailout plan for Ireland that European Union governments signed Sunday has offered little relief from the crisis, dashing the hopes of European leaders. Since then, borrowing costs for the three governments rose sharply.