Headlines

New Brunswick's finance minister is cautiously optimistic that a rescue plan can be found for the Atcon group of companies, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. Greg Byrne says he is pleased a court-appointed monitor has been given two weeks to seek a solution to keep the Miramichi-based companies afloat. Scotiabank is seeking creditor protection for three of the Atcon group of companies and a receiver for the rest, but on Monday a judge appointed Ernst and Young Inc. to determine how, or if, the companies can be restructured or sold.

After almost four weeks in limbo, Leitch Pastoral Group announced yesterday their three meat entities – Killarney Abattoir, Pittsworth Food Processors and Condamine River Meats – had gone into voluntary administration, the Warwick Daily News reported. The businesses are now under the control of administrator Michael McCann from the Brisbane-based accounting firm Grant Thornton. Mr McCann said operations at the Killarney and Pittsworth abattoirs would remain suspended. “As the administrators we will not be restarting operations,” he said.

General Motors Co. said Tuesday it would more than triple its funding for the turnaround of European units Opel and Vauxhall to €1.9 billion ($2.6 billion), The Associated Press reported. General Motors had initially pledged €600 million and hoped to get some €2.7 billion in European government funding for the restructuring of its important European units, but that had been looking increasingly unlikely in recent weeks. GM will now be asking European nations for less than €2 billion in the form of loan guarantees.

The commissioner for monetary affairs at the European Union, Olli Rehn, said on Monday that austerity measures announced by the Greek government to stave off a mounting fiscal crisis were “in the right direction” but not adequate to reduce a bloated budget deficit by 4 percent this year and tackle a debt crisis threatening the euro zone, The New York Times reported. After talks with government and central bank officials in Athens, Mr.

The likelihood of Anglo Irish Bank being wound down over the short or even medium term is “very low”, the credit rating agency Moody’s has said, after downgrading about €1.7 billion of the bank’s debt to “junk” status, The Irish Times reported. Liquidating Anglo was unlikely due to its potential impact on Government debt and the domestic banking system, the agency said. The bank’s dated subordinated debt (sub-debt), which totals €1.7 billion, was downgraded by three notches to Ba1, the highest rating in speculative or “junk” grades, from Baa1, an investment grade.

The board of bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries AF rejected a bid from Reliance Industries Ltd., an oil refiner and explorer controlled by India’s richest man, two people briefed on the matter said today, Bloomberg reported. Reliance, based in Mumbai, had raised its offer for a controlling stake in the Rotterdam-based chemicals maker to $14.5 billion, two people with knowledge of the offer said Feb. 22. The revised bid allowed Lyondell creditors to opt for cash or equity, they said.

Japan Airlines Corp plans to reduce its work force by 2,700, or about 5 percent, by offering early retirement, the Nikkei business daily reported. JAL, which employs about 51,800 groupwide, aims to let go 1,700 employees at its core unit, Japan Airlines International Co, and the rest at other group firms, the paper said. The carrier, which did not disclose how much severance pay early retirees are to receive, will start with 400 flight crew and ground staff managers, the Nikkei said.

A number of Korean shipbuilding companies are struggling due to plunging orders. They are expected to face a forced exit from the market as local creditor banks are moving to weed out non-viable firms through drastic restructuring, The Korea Times reported. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and local banks, creditors will speed up an overhaul of the shipbuilding industry from April once their 2009 financial statements are released. "Creditor banks will seek ways to provide financial help for viable firms.

The Irish owners of the high-profile Sawgrass hotel and golf resort in Florida have filed for Chapter 11 protection with a US court after failing to agree a restructuring deal with Goldman Sachs on a $193 million loan, The Irish Times reported. The Chapter 11 filing has been lodged by RQB Resort LP and RQB Development LP, US-registered companies that control a hotel, spa, golf villas and other properties at the 65-acre resort. The investment in Sawgrass is led by Irish financier Niall McFadden.

The Dutch government on Monday cleared ABN AMRO Chief Executive Gerrit Zalm of wrongdoing at his former bank DSB, although the country's market regulator said Zalm had demonstrated a lack of expertise and should leave ABN, Reuters reported. The split result between the Dutch Finance Ministry and the Financial Markets Authority (AFM) is the first major finding from a probe into the failure of the privately held lender, which collapsed last October after a run on the bank. Read more.