Headlines

A bid to recover some of the money that Namibia’s Social Security Commission lost when it tried to invest N$30 million through an inexperienced asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, in early 2005 went up to the Supreme Court yesterday, AllAfrica.com reported. The liquidator of Avid, Eric Knouwds, is trying to target the personal estate of one of the key figures in the SSC's Avid investment saga, Nico Josea, in an attempt to recover some of the money that the SSC invested through Avid.

The British Property Federation (BPF) has warned against possible abuse of insolvency practices in Britain's frail real estate market as profitable tenants seek to renegotiate leases signed in better economic times, Reuters reported. The industry body, representing blue chip landlords such as Land Securities and British Land, has condemned the trend after reports claimed successful business space provider Regus told landlords it may put leases on its less popular locations into administration if contracts were not restructured.

Delays in restructuring and consolidation of Spain's bank sector, combined with the low amount of public funds that have flowed into the sector are threatening earlier expectations of a material improvement in the financial strength of the country's banks, said Moody's Investor Service, MarketWatch reported. "We are concerned that -- so far -- no significant progress in this respect has been made," said Maria Jose Mori, Moody's analyst. This lack of progress could threaten debt and deposit ratings of certain institutions, she said.

Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs has asked an appeals court to kill the sale of Canwest Global Communications' television assets to cable operator Shaw Communications, The Canadian Press reported. Goldman plans to file documents Wednesday that criticize the sale of Canwest's TV properties to Shaw and the Superior Court of Ontario's role in the final approval of that deal. The transaction is part of a bankruptcy court-led restructuring of the Winnipeg media company under the federal Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA.

Dubai World, the state-owned holding company seeking to renegotiate terms on $26 billion of debt, made “some progress” in talks with creditors, U.K. Trade Minister Mervyn Davies said, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. “There are signs of some progress being made from what I hear from the banks and therefore I am hopeful that this progress can continue,” Davies said in Dubai today. He was speaking before meeting with the emirate’s officials, including Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee.

Europe moved ahead of the United States on Tuesday in advocating new measures to ban certain types of financial speculation after concerns surfaced that traders used complex financial instruments to push Greece deeper into a fiscal crisis and threaten the European economy, The Washington Post reported. The European Commission said it would back a proposal to restrict trading in a type of financial instrument, known as a credit default swap, that is linked to the prices of government and corporate debt.

Debt-laden Ireland is winning applause from financial markets for quickly taking the kind of harsh economic medicine that countries around the world are putting off, The Wall Street Journal reported. Late last year, Ireland looked a lot like Greece. The financial crisis coincided with a housing bust that left Ireland's banks in terrible shape, requiring a government rescue. Ireland's fiscal deficit rose to almost 12% of gross domestic product—a shade under Greece's 12.7%.

EU Commission chief José Manuel Barroso has said the union’s executive would be able to give special fiscal support to Greece without breaching the “no bailout” rule that prohibits overdraft facilities for distressed governments, The Irish Times reported. Mr Barroso also said the commission would examine closely the relevance of banning “purely speculative naked sales” of insurance against the risk of sovereign default, a market widely held to have intensified pressure on Greece amid anxiety about its budget deficit.

More than 22,500 Northern Rock customers – over 4% – have missed monthly mortgage payments, the nationalised mortgage lender admitted today as it reported a sharp fall in losses for last year, The Guardian reported. Despite the losses – down to £257m from £1.3 billion a year ago – the bank is paying out £15 million in bonuses to its staff and will be paying £1.5 million to the Treasury to cover the cost of the one-off tax on the payments.

All 1,200 Aer Lingus cabin crew in the Republic of Ireland are to be sent notices of termination by the company later this month and offered new contracts on revised terms and conditions involving lower salary scales and changed work practices, The Irish Times reported. Later in the year, following the implementation of new work practices designed to reduce its requirement for the current staffing levels, the company will slim down its cabin crew workforce by about 230. The personnel concerned are to be let go on a compulsory basis and offered statutory redundancy terms.