Headlines

General Motors Co.'s board of directors will get one more chance to alter the auto maker's course in relation to its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe when it meets for its fourth formal meeting on the matter Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The auto maker's board, formed in July after GM exited bankruptcy court, will be asked by the company's management team to approve the contents of a letter drafted in mid-October to address the European Union's concerns related to the sale of 55% of Opel to automotive supplier Magna International Inc.

In a major shuffle of the British banking sector on Tuesday, Lloyds Banking Group announced plans to keep the government from taking a majority stake, while Royal Bank of Scotland would give up even more control, The New York Times reported. Both banks were forced by the European Union to sell large parts of their businesses to comply with competition regulation. R.B.S. agreed to sell its insurance business and some bank branches in England, Wales and Scotland to meet European competition rules on accepting state aid.

Now that the crisis has abated, fostering a competitive banking market is becoming more significant again, though mainly because of the intervention of Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s competition commissioner, The Economist reported. Last week she forced ING, a rescued Dutch bank, to split its banking and insurance operations. She also imposed restrictions on lending and deposit-taking at Northern Rock, a nationalised mortgage lender which the British government is splitting into a “good” bank, to be privatised, and a “bad” part, to be wound down.

Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed advisory roles on Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group's plan to sell off branches and raise £54.5 billion, Legal Week reported. The Treasury announced Tuesday that it had concluded discussions with both banks about their participation in the Government's Asset Protection Scheme, with Linklaters picking up the mandate to advise both RBS and Lloyds. Freshfields has stepped in to advise a large consortium of underwriters including Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and UBS.

Sven Ley, the son of Escada founder Wolfgang Ley, has teamed up with the former head of Gucci, Giacomo Santucci, and Italian investment group Borletti to mount a rescue bid for the German luxury fashion house. Escada, once one of the world's top fashion labels, filed for insolvency in August after years of diminishing sales took their toll and a broad restructuring plan failed to win approval from bondholders. The insolvency administrator has since been looking for a new investor and is now in the final stages of negotiations.

Iain Pero, the brother of Mike Pero Mortgages founder Mike, is in the running to pick up the assets of failed flight simulator business Flight Experience Group, The New Zealand Herald reported. Flight Experience was put in receivership last week by its bankers, owed $4 million. The Christchurch startup manufactures and sells flight simulators for pilot training and entertainment. It has six outlets around the country plus sites in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The company was placed in voluntary administration by its owners last month.

The euro-area economy will return to growth next year, the European Commission said, raising its forecasts even as budget deficits and unemployment swell to the highest levels since at least 1995, Bloomberg reported. European companies from STMicroelectronics NV to Pernod Ricard SA cited signs of recovery as they reported earnings in the past month, suggesting that record-low interest rates and emergency stimulus measures are feeding into the broader economy.

The number of Czech bankruptcy filings rose 71 percent year on year, a research by debt collection and research firm Creditreform showed on Monday, Reuters reported. Czech firms have been hit as export orders fell at a double-digit rate during the economic crisis. Policymakers have warned the worst impact on the business sector is yet to come. A total of 7,458 bankruptcy filings were lodged during Jan-Oct. 31, of which 4,290 were companies and the rest were individuals, Creditreform said.

Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed it is now a whisker away from pulling off a Houdini-like escape from the U.K. government's asset protection scheme, The Wall Street Journal reported. If it succeeds, it will be a triumph of high finance, low politics and the determination of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lloyds boss Eric Daniels to avoid unpicking the disastrous takeover of HBOS they agreed at the height of the financial crisis last year.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that it could cut financial assistance to Ukraine, one of the world’s most recession hit economies, after the country veered “off track” by adopting populist wage and pension increases, the Financial Times reported. The warning came after Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president, on Friday signed the increases into law, ignoring warnings from the IMF and Yulia Tymoshenko, his prime minister and bitter rival.