Headlines

The number of people filing for bankruptcy and the recently introduced alternative, the No Asset Procedure (NAP), has risen 20 percent in 2008, according to New Zealand’s largest credit information provider, The National Business Review reported. A total of 4751 individuals have filed for either bankruptcy or NAPs this year, up from 3949 in 2007, Veda Advantage country director John Roberts said. The NAP, introduced in December 2007, has more lenient terms and fewer restrictions than bankruptcy.

Ecuador may saddle investors with the biggest losses in a government bond restructuring since at least World War II after President Rafael Correa fulfilled a two-year pledge to default on debt he calls “illegitimate,” Bloomberg reported. Investors expect to recover less than the 30 cents that Argentina paid in a 2005 settlement that was the harshest since the war, according to Arturo Porzecanski, an international finance professor at American University in Washington. Correa said in a Dec.

Royal Bank of Scotland, Man Group and Nomura on Monday joined a growing list of financial groups acknowledging exposure to the alleged $50 billion fraud surrounding Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff, Reuters reported. A report in the Financial Times said HSBC Holdings Plc had emerged as one of the largest victims, with potential exposure of about $1 billion. RBS said its potential loss could amount to some 400 million pounds ($595 million), if it assumed that the value of its assets in market-making firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC were nil.

MHS Electronics, which was created in 2005 by taking over the former facility of Atmel Nantes, has asked to be placed in receivership by the Commercial Court Nantes, the trade journal evertiq reported. An observation period of six months will be implemented. Cost reduction plans undertaken in July were insufficient to counteract the impact of the current global economic downturn. MHS Electronics employs 370 employees, of which 250 are employed at the facility in Nantes. Read more.

Automotive supplier Tedrive has filed for insolvency for two German units, citing a recent slump in orders, according to the company's insolvency administrator, The Guardian reported. Tedrive was the second industry player to file for insolvency in the region within a week, after German brake pad maker TMD Friction did the same for four German plants. The administrator said Tedrive aimed to restructure its business at the two units. The units make driveshafts and steering systems, and have a total of 1,500 workers.

The bankruptcy of Kehra paper plant Horizon Tselluloosi ja Paberi AS wasn’t announced on December 11 because the factory paid its debt, aripaev.ee reported. The bankruptcy request for Horizon was filed by Haroterase OÜ. The bankruptcy proceeding wasn’t started since the creditor didn‘t have any claims, said the attorney from Raidla Lejins and Norcous who represented Horizon. But the company owes EEK 3.8 million to the state in unpaid taxes and smaller amounts to other companies. “The debtor has paid its main debt and creditor disclaimed.

The collapse of a US bailout of the three American car giants sparked a new global share battering Friday, Agence France-Presse reported. With Russia officially entering recession, Bank of America and other international companies making more mass layoffs and European production falling faster than expected, the grim data built up around the world. Talks among US senators on salvaging a $14 billion deal fund for Ford Motor Co, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler collapsed late Thursday. GM has hired lawyers for a potential bankruptcy filing.

Creditors of Zavvi have brought in an emergency restructuring team from Ernst & Young to help the high street music retailer, the Press Association reported. Woolworths' administrator Deloitte has appointed the team as the group's CD and DVD distribution arm Entertainment UK is Zavvi's biggest creditor. Zavvi's management team is understood to have approved the appointment of Ernst & Young, which is said to be standing by to step in as administrator if Zavvi is unable to repay its £106 million debt to Entertainment UK, according to the Times newspaper.

The pain for Europe's retailers has only just begun, as a deepening consumer downturn, rising costs and banks' reluctance to lend are set to drive thousands out of business and put tens of thousands of staff out of work, Reuters reported. Credit insurer Euler Hermes estimates that around 35,000 western European retail businesses could go insolvent next year, up about 17 percent on 2008 and making it the second worst hit sector behind manufacturing.

A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday ordered the cases of Monitor Oil PLC and related entities converted to a liquidation proceeding under Chapter 7 at the request of bondholders and a U.S. trustee. According to a memorandum of law filed by an attorney with the U.S. Trustee's Office in support of the conversion, the debtors in the case--Monitor Single Lift 1 Ltd., Monitor Oil PLC and Monitor US Finco Inc.--have sustained an aggregate loss of more than $25 million from the commencement of the cases in November 2007 through October.