Headlines

The Dutch market regulator AFM said on Thursday it has opened an investigation into brokerage Van der Moolen, which filed for creditor protection last month, Reuters reported. The AFM declined to elaborate, though, on the nature of the investigation or how far it has progressed. The 117-year old firm was once one of the top marketmaker names on Wall Street but fell on hard times in recent years as floor trading at exchanges declined and it tried to adapt its business.

The European Union wants to make limits on bankers' pay a key issue when leaders from the Group of 20 largest economies meet in Pittsburgh later this month, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several of the bloc's finance ministers, in Brussels for a special meeting to prepare a common negotiating stance for the G-20 summit, cited pay curbs as their main priority. "We have to stop the restarting of the bonus culture," Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told journalists before the ministers' meeting.

Investors in a finance company chaired by former New Zealand Finance Minister Ruth Richardson are being told not to expect all their money back. The IMP Diversified Income Fund entered into a moratorium agreement with investors in June last year promising to make a full repayment to debenture holders. The company owed $16.5 million to debenture and capital noteholders at the time, and has since paid back 40c in the dollar.

A director of the troubled company that ran the Sydney Entertainment Centre has called on God - who, he claims, has recommended offering creditors some cash, the Brisbane Times reported. Michael Jacobsen, 30, son of veteran promoter Kevin Jacobsen, has proposed a deed of company arrangement to the administrator of Arena Management that could pay unsecured creditors 35c in the dollar and pay the 123 employees in full. Mr Jacobsen referred to falling attendance figures and the expensive rent deal with the NSW Government.

The prospective purchaser of the ailing Saab Automobile company – the Koenigsegg Group – has found new investors to enable it to complete the deal, according to reports in the Dagens Industri business daily, Sweden’s The Local reported. Saab’s current owner, General Motors, will also stump up three billion kronor ($412 million) to fill the funding hole. The paper’s information reportedly came from a source close to the deal.

RHJ International SA said Wednesday it has improved its offer for General Motors Co.'s Opel unit, saying it would put more cash into the automaker and seek lower loan guarantees from Germany's government. Arnaud Denis, a spokesman for the Brussels-based investment company, told The Associated Press that RHJ would provide €300 million ($429.4 million) in cash compared to €275 million offered earlier and expects loan guarantees of €3.2 billion from the government, down from €3.8 billion.

The chief executive and other top managers at Germany's retail and tourism company Arcandor AG resigned Tuesday as one of the first steps in the insolvency proceedings of the company and its main units, The Wall Street Journal reported. The court proceedings include parent company Arcandor AG, mail-order unit Primondo GmbH and Quelle GmbH, as well as department store chain Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH. The group, which has around 40 units, filed for insolvency in June after its application for state help was turned down.

A Milan court has postponed the deadline for the filing of the restructuring plan of troubled real estate company Risanamento SpA to Sept. 9, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday, Dow Jones reported. The original deadline for finalizing the group's restructuring agreement was Tuesday, Sept. 1. The board of Risanamento said Monday that it will reconvene in the next few days to decide on the restructuring plan that could save it from bankruptcy.

Satelites Mexicanos SA, the Mexican satellite operator that emerged from bankruptcy in 2006, aims to reach a restructuring agreement with bondholders by the end of the year to ensure it can update an aging satellite fleet, Bloomberg reported. Satmex needs to restructure its debt to make the business “sustainable,” Chief Financial Officer Luis Stein said. Mexico City-based Satmex is seeking funding to replace a satellite launched in 1994 with a newer one that could expand the services it offers.

Timbercorp and Great Southern forestry assets could be snapped up by Tasmanian timber company Gunns, the Herald Sun reported. And Gunns is poised to become an even bigger player in the timber game, after announcing on Monday its acquisition of ITC Timber from Elders for $100 million. The ITC Timber deal will be financed through a $145 million capital raising. Gunns has always held an interest in Timbercorp and Great Southern assets, and media reports this week indicate Gunns may enter a joint venture in order to buy them.