Headlines

Eighty-five companies worldwide defaulted on their debt in the year through November 11, impacting a total of $284 billion, up sharply from the two previous years, Standard & Poor's said Monday. By comparison, there were only 22 defaults for all of 2007 and 30 in 2006, Reuters reported. Seventy of the 85 companies are based in the United States, five in Europe, four in Asia, three in Canada, two in Mexico and one in Russia, according to Diane Vazza, head of S&P's fixed income group.

Two more property projects from Australian developer Petrac have been placed into receivership, leaving listed property group Valad further exposed to the ailing property market, SmartCompany reported today. Greg Hall and Ian Hall of PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed as receivers to Petrac’s $200 million housing estate development at Lennox Head in northern New South Wales. The receivers were appointed by The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego raised his stake in Circuit City Stores Inc. to more than 13 percent to become the biggest shareholder as the U.S. consumer electronics retailer works to emerge from bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported today. Salinas Pliego bought 25 million shares Nov. 13 and Nov. 14 at 24 cents to 26 cents apiece, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Pliego also bought 5.3 million shares of Circuit City on Nov. 12, two days after the retailer declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, will sell 20 percent of Mazda Motor Corp., to raise cash, the Nikkei newswire reported without saying where it got the information. The shares will be purchased by Mazda, Sumitomo Corp., Itochu Corp. and five insurance companies, the newswire said today. Mazda Chief Executive Officer Hisakazu Imaki will brief the press in Hiroshima about a change in shareholders at 6 p.m., the company said in a faxed statement today.

Troubled German lender Hypo Real Estate reported Monday a net loss of 3.1 billion euros ($4 billion) in the third quarter as the financial crisis worsened, with a unit in Ireland hit especially hard by write-downs on the values of its assets, the Associated Press reported.

Taiwan's memory chip makers have a convertible debt problem, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A glut in memory chips used in everything from mobile phones to laptop computers, just as demand for the products has fallen off a cliff, means memory chip prices are down as much as 90% since the end of 2006. To little avail, chip makers have been slashing production and halting investment. Now the debt itself is coming due--just when the chip makers need what little cash they have left.

Senators from southern U.S. states with factories owned by Asian and European car manufacturers oppose a bailout of U.S. automakers, saying the industry can thrive without General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, Bloomberg reported today. Republican Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and James DeMint of South Carolina, are among lawmakers trying to derail Democratic plans, supported by President-elect Barack Obama, to provide at least $25 billion in loans to the three U.S. companies.

Brazil's important ethanol sector took a hit Friday after a major producer revealed that it filed court papers seeking protection from creditors while it restructures $100 million in debt, the Associated Press reported. Companhia Albertina sought the protection similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization used in the United States but will continue operating, said Gabriel Andrade, an investment banker with Sao Paulo's Arsenal Investments who is advising the company. It appeared to be the first sign of trouble for an ethanol producer since the credit crisis hit the planet hard.

German government officials on Monday were set to discuss conditions of a possible loan guarantee for General Motor Corp. subsidiary Adam Opel GmbH at a meeting with company executives, the Wall Street Journal Europe reported today. The government wants to get a clearer picture of the situation at Opel and then will decide without haste about possible help, state spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said. Roland Koch, government of the state of Hesse which is home to Opel headquarters in Ruesselsheim, has said that the carmaker needs guarantees of around €1 billion ($1.27 billion). Mr.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. may complete billions of dollars in trades and unwind transactions that were pending two months ago when it filed the biggest bankruptcy in history, under an accord with European affiliates, Bloomberg reported Friday. The deal gives the firm access to information systems in Europe, which it said were "sealed off'' by its bankruptcies on both sides of the Atlantic. Without the accord, the New York- based company said it "cannot execute trades or even obtain information on current positions,'' key requirements for paying creditors owed more than $613 billion.