Headlines

General Motors’ plan to sell its European operations to a Canadian auto parts maker and a Russian bank appeared Monday to be in trouble, when another bidder said it was nearing a deal for the unit, The New York Times reported. R.H.J. International, a Brussels-listed industrial holding company, said in a statement that it was in talks with G.M. for the acquisition of a majority stake in the European subsidiary, Adam Opel, which includes the operations of Vauxhall in Britain.

A group of parts suppliers for Ssangyong Motor Co. said yesterday they will ask a bankruptcy court to liquidate the automaker unless striking workers end their action by the end of July, the JoongAng Daily reported. Production at Ssangyong, which has been under bankruptcy protection since February, has been halted since May 21 as some 1,000 laid-off workers have been occupying the company’s only assembly plant to protest a massive job-cut plan.

A record number of Czech companies filed for bankruptcy in the first half of 2009, research by credit agency Creditreform showed on Monday. Czech export-oriented firms are suffering as demand for their mainly industrial goods such as vehicles and steel products has fallen by almost a quarter due to the evaporation of orders from the recession-hit euro zone. Another problem is stricter bank lending rules, which has severely cut the flows of credit to companies. In June, a study by Czech Chamber of Commerce unveiled 76 percent of firms had to cut production due to a lack of financing.

ING Groep NV, the biggest financial-services company in the Netherlands, was told by European Union regulators that there are “doubts” about whether a government restructuring plan for the lender will be approved, Bloomberg reported. The European Commission is questioning the Netherlands’ valuation methodology for illiquid assets in ING’s portfolio, the EU said July 11 on its Web site. The commission gave temporary approval to the Dutch government’s “illiquid assets back-up facility” on March 31.

Timbercorp lease holders have started issuing the company with default notices in an attempt to break the contracts and get their land back, ABC News reported. Timbercorp has been declared insolvent and has no money to make lease payments to land owners, which were due on June 31. The Federal Court last week ruled liquidators, KordaMentha, were not obliged to pay landowners before investors. West Australian south coast farmer David Lubcke, says he has sent a letter to KordaMentha demanding the company either break the lease or make its quarterly lease payment.

Network Ten's cash-strapped majority shareholder, Canwest, has signalled it is still a step away from bankruptcy, prompting a rebound in its share price which had halved last week, the Brisbane Times reported. But the media group, controlled by the Asper family, said charges to account for the falling value of its newspapers have widened its losses in the third quarter, adding further to its financial woes. Its biggest revenue declines came from Ten, which last month reported a 76 per cent fall in earnings for the quarter. Yet CanWest said negotiations with creditors were continuing.

Air Canada's flight attendants approved a plan for a 21-month moratorium on the airline's pension obligations and an extension of their current contract over the same period late Sunday, the Financial Post reported. The union's membership voted 63% in favour of the plan, which management has said is vital in the airline staving off a second bankruptcy filing in six years. Air Canada's pilots are expected to release the result of their own ratification vote Monday morning.

High-flying internet tycoon Daniel Tzvetkoff has denied claims he diverted more than $35 million out of his embattled company to fund a lavish lifestyle of imported cars, beachfront mansions and parties, The Australian reported. An internal audit of BT Projects, the internet billing company that was last week put into voluntary administration, allegedly unearthed systematic discrepancies in the financial records that contributed to its corporate failure. Administrators for the company said there were debts of at least $61 million, which includes at least $5 million in unpaid taxes.

The French are getting thriftier, and that poses a problem for the European economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. For more than a decade, consumer spending has driven growth in France and buoyed the economy of the nations -- now 16 -- that share the euro. The danger for France and for Europe is that this turns into a longer-term trend.

Canwest, the debt-riddled controlling shareholder of Australia's Ten television network, watched its stockmarket value collapse to record lows Friday amid rising speculation that the Canadian group is on the brink of bankruptcy, The Australian reported. The latest attack on Canwest Global Communications shares has focused attention on the future of its 56.6 per cent stake in Ten Network Holdings, the listed vehicle that owns the Australian TV operations.