Headlines

The federal government is questioning whether our neighbors to the north will be looking out for the U.S. taxpayers in a Canadian pharmaceutical company’s insolvency case, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services objected last week to Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s request to gain U.S. courts’ recognition of its case in Canada. The Vancouver drug maker sought that recognition through its Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing with the Wilmington, Del., bankruptcy court.

Some European officials are quietly discussing contingencies for what might be a Portuguese request for financial aid as early as next month, when the highly indebted country begins facing large-scale debt redemptions, The Wall Street Journal reported. Financial pressure on the country's treasury is increasing, a topic that is likely to come up at the March 11 and March 24 meetings of European Union leaders, according to people familiar with the discussions. Portugal has raised €4.75 billion ($6.5 billion) via bond sales so far this year.

Struggling Laval custom drug researcher LAB Research Inc. said Monday it has been informed by a U.S. private equity firm that it has longer any interest in acquiring LAB and the company has been forced into bankruptcy by its principal lender, The Montreal Gazette reported. LAB said in a statement the directors have resigned and a receiver has been appointed. The principal lender wants to solicit or entertain offers for LAB and its modern pre-clinical testing facilities in Laval, and in Denmark and Hungary.

Icelandic President Olafur R. Grimsson said Friday he will take a few days to decide whether to ratify a bill that would solve a long-running, politically bruising dispute with Britain and the Netherlands over a $5 billion repayment, Bloomberg reported. Icelandic lawmakers voted earlier this week in favor of the deal to repay funds invested by British and Dutch citizens in Internet bank Icesave that were lost when it collapsed in late 2008. Finance Minister Steingrimur J.

Czech lottery company Sazka has received takeover offers from two investors, the latest development in a battle for control of the indebted firm, Reuters reported. Investment group KKCG on Monday made a direct offer to shareholders for a 2.8 billion crown ($156.8 million) capital hike in Sazka in exchange for a 67 percent stake. KKCG said its offer would guarantee 250 million crowns annually for 15 years to sports unions which own Sazka.

Spain's central bank said the country's ailing savings banks are holding about €100 billion ($136.86 billion) in "potentially problematic" real-estate assets, the first time it has put a number on the extent of those holdings, The Wall Street Journal reported. The figure was disclosed as the head of the Bank of Spain voiced support for the government's plan to boost the solvency levels of those banks, known as cajas.

A bankruptcy judge granted Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC a two-week extension to control its bankruptcy case, setting up a showdown with its only U.S. creditor, HSBC Bank USA, which is seeking to have the Chapter 11 case thrown out, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The extension Judge Allan L. Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved Thursday will allow Awal to make its argument to maintain control of its bankruptcy until August at the same hearing that HSBC Holdings PLC's U.S. unit will ask the judge to dismiss the case. That hearing is set for March 1.

Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions in January fell 10.5 percent to 630 from December and were down 22.6 percent compared with a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy orders totalled 613 in January, down 33.4 percent from a year earlier. Hong Kong's economy has bounced back strongly from the global financial crisis. Last November, the Hong Kong government revised upwards its full-year 2010 GDP growth forecast to 6.5 percent from a previous forecast of 5-6 percent.

Administrators of the Australian parent company of New Zealand bookseller Whitcoulls are beginning preparations for a first meeting of creditors, The National Business Review reported. REDgroup Retail is the parent company of Australasian book chains Borders and Whitcoulls, which were put in administration yesterday. REDgroup -- which manages operations in both countries -- called in voluntary administrators, Ferrier Hodgson. REDGroup is controlled by private equity group PEP.

The historically high level of Korean household debt seems to be a ticking time bomb for the economy, but this isn’t keeping policymakers from encouraging people to borrow more to secure the concrete in the crumbling housing market, The Korea Times reported. The government is planning to announce a package of measures next month aimed at helping potential homebuyers and tenants. The crux may include loosening the country’s debt-to-income (DTI) and loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, which restrict the borrowing proportion of homebuyers in relation to their earning abilities.