Headlines

U.K. banks face an increased risk of default on some of the country’s 250 billion pounds ($403 billion) of commercial real-estate loans, the Bank of England said today, Bloomberg reported. In the past year, the longest recession on record meant the “probability of default by U.K. real estate companies has increased significantly,” the central bank said in its Financial Stability Report, which is published every six months. Property owners may struggle to service loans as the recession and mounting unemployment boost building vacancies and depress rents.

Russia's state development bank VEB may resume giving out subordinated loans to banks as lending remains flat even after the government disbursed nearly $13 billion of the rescue package to the banking system, Reuters reported. "I concede that we may have to return to this instrument," the central bank's first deputy chairman, Gennady Melikyan, told the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs' (RSPP) banking committee meeting on Thursday.

Scottish airline Flyglobespan is filing for bankruptcy and its fights have been grounded, administrators appointed to help salvage the company announced Wednesday, BusinessWeek reported. Some 5,000 passengers due to fly abroad with the airline in coming days have been contacted, administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a statement. Flyglobespan's 10 aircraft served about a dozen destinations across Britain and Europe, as well as Orlando, Florida, and the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh.

New Zealand-listed Hamilton Securities Ltd will make an off-market takeover bid for the debentures of the Timbercorp Orchard Trust, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on an AAP story. Hamilton Securities, which was founded in October 2009, will offer 30 A-class shares in Hamilton Securities for each debenture, of which there are 567,737 on issue, each with a face value of $100.

At least one creditor is starting to dismantle the Yukon business empire of Jon Rudolph, whose company agreed this week to give up most of its assets and go into partial receivership, CBC News reported. Golden Hill Ventures has debts estimated to total in the $20 million range, and lawyers say plans to save it from bankruptcy are hopeless. Golden Hill has been Rudolph's flagship business for almost 30 years, starting out as a road building and heavy construction company.

Troubled Ssangyong Motor avoided bankruptcy after a court approved its self-rescue plan despite opposition from overseas creditors. The ruling enables the cash-strapped automaker to get additional financing from investors, and take a series of steps to eventually stand on its own feet. Its ongoing negotiations for a possible sale is also expected to gain momentum. A Ssangyong spokesman told The Korea Times that it would select a candidate to take over the company by January and complete the deal by September.

Europe’s leading healthcare companies have complained to Brussels over the non-payment of debts on drugs and other medical products they say total almost €7 billion by the Greek public health system, the Financial Times reported. The moves come as Greece struggles to raise funds on international markets to finance its swollen budget deficit and public debt in the face of credit rating downgrades.

Greece suffered its second debt-rating downgrade in a week, undermining the country's efforts to reassure markets that it can repair its battered finances, The Wall Street Journal reported. Standard & Poor's Corp. cut its rating one notch to triple-B-plus and warned of future downgrades. The euro slipped slightly against the U.S. dollar on the downgrade, adding to recent declines that have pushed the common currency to its lowest level against the greenback since early October.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. failed to persuade a Canadian judge to let it seek a reversal of Canwest Global Communications Inc.’s transfer of its specialty television channels from a holding company to its TV unit on the eve of filing for bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported. Ontario Superior Court Judge Sarah Pepall said lifting a prohibition on lawsuits, which was granted when Canwest filed for bankruptcy, would be too disruptive to the company’s restructuring efforts.

Dack's Shoes, one of Canada's oldest and best-known retailer of quality men's footwear, has slipped into bankruptcy after 175 years in business, The Canadian Press reported. The company announced Wednesday that it filed for bankruptcy Dec. 9 and plans to close all six of its remaining stores - four in Toronto and two in Alberta - after a chain-wide liquidation of merchandise. Dack's cited declining market share and increasing overhead costs compounded by the recession for ending its run.