Headlines

Dubai World replaced the chief executive officer of its private equity unit Istithmar World, the owner of luxury retailer Barneys New York, as the state- owned company seeks to renegotiate about $22 billion of debt, Bloomberg reported. “Dubai World is cleaning house and signaling to investors that it’s making difficult decisions and responding to their criticisms,” said Louis Gargour, the chief investment officer at hedge fund LNG Capital LLP in London. “Dubai World may sell some of its non-core assets.

Creditors holding $1.4 billion (U.S.) in debt on Intrawest ULC have begun foreclosure proceedings on some of the company's assets, including the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, and say they plan to auction them off on Feb. 19, The Toronto Star reported. The resort operator's financial woes have put Vancouver Olympic organizers in a quandary, since the sale of the company would be an unwelcome disruption to the games, which open Feb. 12. Vancouver-based Intrawest recently missed a $524 million debt payment, prompting lenders, including investment bank Lehman Bros.

Tasmanian shipping company Southern Shipping Co Pty Ltd has been placed in receivership, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Southern Shipping, based at Bridport in northeast Tasmania, operates a government-contracted sea freight and passenger service with two roll-on/roll-off vessels running between Bridport, the Furneaux Group of islands and Port Welshpool, Victoria. Altan Djenab and Dennis Turner of PKF Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers on Thursday were appointed receivers and managers of Southern Shipping.

Ten stores from the Stax women's clothing chain have gone into receivership, The New Zealand Herald reported. About half the chain, those stores owned by Topsco International NZ Ltd are being close, while the rest are unaffected. Kenneth Brown and Paul Manning of RHB Accountants have been appointed receivers. The Stax website lists 21 stores across New Zealand. Stax's website says it has "no collection to display" under the "Season's Collections" tab. It also says a new website is about to be launched.

Iconic wine company Cockatoo Ridge, best known for its sparkling whites, has been placed in voluntary administration after a restructure attempt failed, SmartCompany.au reported. The South Australian-based company, which also produces dry white wines and red table wines under the Stockman's Post and NXG brands, is one of many companies battling Australia's wine and grape glut. In a brief statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, the directors of Cockatoo Ridge said that it was likely to become insolvent in the third quarter, leading no choice but to enter voluntary administration.

Renewed worries over Greece's fiscal problems weighed on the country's financial markets Thursday even as the government reaffirmed that it isn't seeking outside support to meet its borrowing needs, The Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts said that the government is moving too slowly to address Greece's fiscal problems and that investors are showing their disbelief by selling down Greek stocks and bonds. "We are being penalized for each and every day we don't do anything about our problems," said Nicholas Douzinas, head of foreign markets at Intersec Securities.

Alarmed by the amount of government involvement in Japan Airlines Corp.'s restructuring, the president of rival All Nippon Airways Co. ratcheted up warnings Wednesday that the state-supported overhaul could undermine competition in the airline industry, The Wall Street Journal reported. ANA President and Chief Executive Shinichiro Ito said his greatest concern is that fierce price competition could break out once JAL receives a government-backed lifeline of $10 billion to support its ailing operations. Mr.

Chinese regulators have told some banks to temporarily halt lending amid growing fears of asset bubbles and inflation. The renewed efforts to rein in credit growth follow a burst of frantic lending activity by Chinese banks that have raised concerns about overheating in the Chinese economy. In the first two weeks of January alone, banks extended as much as Rmb1,100bn ($161bn) in new loans, analysts and bankers told the Financial Times. If banks were to sustain that pace of lending, they would pump nearly Rmb30,000bn into the economy this year.

Premier Wen Jiabao signaled that Beijing is closely considering the risks associated with its stimulus policies in comments to the State Council posted on the central government's Web site Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. China will maintain "reasonable and ample" money and credit supply in the first quarter, he said.

The owner and operator of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel and the Military Road E-Ramp, Connector Motorways Pty Ltd, has been placed in receivership, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on an Australian Associated Press story. Martin Madden and David Merryweather of corporate recovery services provider KordaMentha said they had been appointed receivers and managers to Connector on Wednesday by the security trustee, BTA Institutional Services Australia Ltd. "The objective of the receivers is to put the tunnel assets on a firm financial footing," Mr Madden said.