Headlines

A bankruptcy court judge has given Deutsche Bank AG a green light to begin probing the paper trail behind the bankruptcy of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. in response to Deutsche Bank’s fears that it may lose more money to the fallen mortgage lender than first thought, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Labor unions at the Adam Opel AG car factory in northeastern Spain said Monday they had accepted a new restructuring agreement reached with Magna International Inc., clearing at least one obstacle to the Canadian company's plans to take over the General Motors Co. subsidiary together with Russia's OAO Sberbank, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Commission, the European Union's executive branch, meanwhile, said it has set a Nov. 27 deadline for its antitrust review of the planned takeover.

Hundreds of creditors are lining up to be paid by CanWest GlobalCommunications Corp., as the company attempts to restructure, ranging from a small karate studio in Toronto owed about $25 to some of Hollywood's most powerful television producers that may be owed millions, The Globe and Mail reported. CanWest, which filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, is trying to restructure its debt, which reached close to $4-billion this year. The list of parties the company owes money to was released in a 50-page spreadsheet that details how diverse those debts are.

The Japanese government plans to put a state-backed turnaround body in charge of the overhaul of Japan Airlines, the Nikkei business daily said, underlining the government's deeper involvement in the process. Liabilities at JAL would exceed its assets by as much as $8.8 billion if it were liquidated, a source close to the matter has said, indicating the depth of the problem facing the airline as it seeks aid from banks and the state to avoid bankruptcy.

The European Commission will not investigate the improper use of state aid in the ongoing attempts to sell carmaker Opel, Spiegel Online reported. The situation at Opel is so critical that the company would likely collapse before such an investigation could be complete. European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes just last week warned the German government she had "significant indications" the sale to Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna may breach European single market rules.

Volkswagen aims to take over Germany's Karmann, bringing the company back from the brink of going bust, two people familiar with the matter said. "Talks have been going on for some time, but there is no agreement yet on a price," one of the sources told Reuters on Sunday. Without fresh funds, the German independent contract carmaker and convertible roof-top specialist that filed for insolvency in April, will have to shut down in early November as new orders are scarce and customers remain unwilling to pay their bills.

France moved toward tightening the leash on financial institutions Friday after the lower house of Parliament approved the creation of two taxes—one on bank capital and another on bank profits, The Wall Street Journal reported. Both taxes have to be approved by the upper house before they come into force. France's tax plan comes as several European countries are seeking ways to recoup some of the funds used to bail out banks in the past year. The first tax, proposed by the French government, is a 0.04% to 0.08% levy on bank capital designed to finance banking supervision.

The administrator of Karstadt, a unit of insolvent German retailer Arcandor, is still confident that an investor will buy the department store chain as a whole, according to an interview for weekly magazine Focus. Rolf Weidmann said he was optimistic that a contract could be signed in the second quarter of 2010, adding that the department stores were currently profitable, according to the magazine.

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said Canadians should not underestimate the "historic" restructuring ahead for the economy as it needs to adapt to a reshaped global marketplace in the post-financial crisis era, the Financial Post reported. However, in a TV interview broadcast on Sunday, he said he's confident the country's business community is up to the task, as their balance sheets are in "outstanding shape" and corporate leaders appear to recognize the changes afoot in the global marketplace. Read more.

Kuwait's Global Investment House says most of its creditors have agreed to a restructuring plan, as the country's largest investment bank looks to resolve a $3 billion debt default, The Associated Press reported. Global said Sunday an "overwhelming majority" of its creditors have approved the terms of restructuring and a timeline for completing it has been proposed. It did not provide any further details. Global had been meeting with creditors to restructure almost $3 billion in loans on which it had defaulted.