Headlines

Car parts supplier Vorwerk Autotec has renewed its interest in insolvent German peer Karmann's roof business, having lost out in a previous auction earlier this year, Reuters reported. Previously, at least four suitors were in the race for the insolvent company, including Vorwerk Autotec, financial group Nordwind Capital, Canada's Magna International and CIE Automotive. In May Magna's leading bid was blocked by German competition authorities.

An attempt by an ad hoc group of disgruntled shareholders to derail the takeover of Canwest Global Communications Inc. is “misguided” and their petition for a re-auction of the broadcaster’s assets “must be rejected,” declared the Winnipeg-based company in a court filing, the National Post reported.

General Motors Co.'s European division said Wednesday it has decided to withdraw all applications for state aid in the region and finance the planned turnaround with a further €1.4 billion of funds from its parent, marking a broad strategic shift after the German government last week refused to provide aid to the U.S. auto maker, Dow Jones reported.

New investors may be asked to submit bids for the control of financially-stricken southern Queensland border irrigation giant, Cubbie Station, Stock & Land reported. A creditors meeting in South West Queensland at St George this week failed to give the green light to either of the two foreign parties currently vying for control of debt-burdened Cubbie, which farms 93,000 hectares on the Lower Balonne floodplain.

The Bank of Spain’s decision to publish the results of stress tests on the nation’s lenders may prompt European neighbors to follow suit as investors demand more disclosure of the risks on banks’ books, Bloomberg reported. The Bank of Spain will make the findings public to give investors more information on the state of the banks, said Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, the central bank governor, in a speech. Spain will publish the results on individual banks, Finance Minister Elena Salgado said in a television interview. Banking groups in Germany and the U.K.

The receivership of a major hospitality operator, has made the future of 20 Auckland and Wellington bars uncertain, NZCity reported. Northern Hospitality Management was put into receivership last Friday. The Department of Internal Affairs is investigating the company over gaming machine grants, the flow of funds and its relationship with gaming foundations and trotting clubs. Receiver Gerry Rea says his company is dealing with 10 bars in Auckland 10 in Wellington.

The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will soon issue economic laws to regulate the Gulf nation's financial sector and control the flow of hot money in the national economy, local economic daily Emirates Business 24/ 7 reported Wednesday.

Spanish banks are borrowing record amounts from the European Central Bank as the country’s financial institutions struggle to gain funding from the international capital markets, the Financial Times reported. Spanish banks borrowed €85.6bn ($105.7bn) from the ECB last month. This was double the amount lent to them before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and 16.5 per cent of net eurozone loans offered by the central bank.

Greece's debt-ridden economy has received unexpected endorsement from China as the two countries announced multibillion euro accords to boost cooperation in fields as diverse as shipping, tourism and telecommunications, The Guardian reported. The deals, which will see Greek olive oil being exported to China, were a welcome relief for a government smarting over Moody's move hours earlier to downgrade the nation's credit rating to junk. As investors moved in the other direction, the world's pre-eminent emerging economy embraced Greece.

Newly elected and facing a huge budget deficit, Prime Minister George Papandreou arrived in Brussels for his first meeting with European leaders last December with few cards to play, The New York Times reported. Improbably, perhaps, his strategy of total transparency worked. Within months, he had managed to secure the bailout he needed while still maintaining good relations with his fellow European leaders — quite a feat, many observers say. At the height of the crisis in the spring, Mr. Papandreou brought the International Monetary Fund into negotiations.