Headlines

UK companies face a fresh risk of insolvency as they struggle to repay deferred tax bills, turnaround specialists have warned, the Financial Times reported. Some 204,000 so-called “time to pay” arrangements have been agreed by HM Revenue & Customs between November 2008 and the end of August 2009, under which £1.1 billion needs to be repaid. Of that figure, 33,000 repeat arrangements account for £440 million. An increasing number of companies have sought advice in recent weeks about meeting deferred taxes, said Brian Green, a restructuring partner at KPMG.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Sunday that it needs to save money in its headquarters' administration department due to the financial crisis. The Cologne-based company wants to reduce its costs for personnel at the department in Cologne by 5%, a company spokesman told The Associated Press, USA Today reported. German daily newspaper Handelsblatt reported Sunday that the airline wants to cut 15% of the jobs in the administration department by 2012. Read more.

A €19.6 million fine for price fixing has forced Slovakia's Novacke Chemicke Zavody (NCHZ) to file for protection from its creditors, the company said on Friday, Reuters reported. The European Commission in July fined eight suppliers of calcium carbide and magnesium-based reagents a total of 61 million euros. NCHZ received the biggest individual fine. The company, owned by Cyprus-based Disor Holdings Limited , produces inorganic and organic products and polymers, and employs some 1,600 workers. Local authorities warned a massive lay-off would hurt the region badly.

A judge Friday dismissed lawsuits seeking to hold Bank of America Corp. and auditing firm Grant Thornton International responsible in Italian dairy giant Parmalat's 2003 collapse, a decision Parmalat said it will appeal, The Associated Press reported. U.S. District Judge Lewis A.

Japan’s transportation minister sought on Thursday to allay concerns that the country’s new centre-left government might withdraw financial support for Japan Airlines, the loss-making carrier that is seeking at least Y100 billion ($1.09 billion) in emergency aid, the Financial Times reported. Seiji Maehara, who assumed the transportation post on Wednesday, said: “Japan’s skies have always had two airlines, and it’s important that we continue with a system of two major airlines.

European Union leaders said the Group of 20 nations should agree on binding rules backed by national sanctions to curb bank bonuses, a week before a summit of the top industrial and emerging nations in Pittsburgh, Bloomberg reported. The EU agreement on the need for action failed to include details of how such curbs would be achieved, leaving any details to be negotiated at the G-20 summit. Leaders of the 27 EU states said voters would react with anger if bankers were allowed to award themselves large bonuses while relying on public money for their survival.

Papermaker AbitibiBowater Inc will idle its Beaupre, Quebec, mill and cut production at four other facilities, the company said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Abitibi, which is trying to restructure under court protection, said the cutbacks were forced by weak market conditions. It said the move, along with curtailments already under way at two other mills, will reduce newsprint and commercial paper production by 1.3 million tonnes. Abitibi, based in Montreal, but incorporated in the United States, crumpled under an overwhelming debtload and filed for protection from creditors in April.

Daewoo Logistics has sought Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York, to avert what the court filing describes as a “race to the courthouse” over Daewoo’s unpaid bills while its main bankruptcy case unfolds in South Korea. The petition was sparked by a raft of Rule B attachment actions taken against Daewoo, Lloyd’s List reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Britain and the Netherlands oppose a deadline in Iceland's plans to repay savers who lost money held in the island nation's banks when they collapsed, a government official said on Thursday, Reuters reported. A member of Iceland's budgetary committee, who declined to be named, said the two countries would not accept a clause that meant that the repayment guarantee ran out in June, 2024. Iceland's three main banks and its currency collapsed late last year in the global financial crisis. More than $5 billion was lost in Icelandic deposit accounts.

Last week's deal for General Motors to give up control of its money-losing Opel unit has a big downside: If the deal goes through, Russian automaker GAZ will get its hands on GM technology, The Associated Press reported. Worse yet, GAZ, with cars that are light years behind most global automakers in quality as well as engines, transmissions and other technology, is likely to use what it gets from GM to compete against the Detroit automaker's Chevrolet brand in Russia. "Each deal has a flip side.