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An alliance between the department store operations of Metro AG and Arcandor AG isn't the only option for insolvent Arcandor, market participants say, despite a good fit and political support for such a solution, Dow Jones reported. Retail and tourism company Arcandor, which filed for insolvency June 9, is keen to hold onto its Karstadt stores as part of a restructured group and not sell the unit off. But while Arcandor's preliminary insolvency administrator, Klaus-Hubert Goerg, has said his aim is to keep the company whole, he didn't guarantee it would remain intact.

PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-largest carmaker, said it may have an operating loss of as much as €2 billion ($2.8 billion) this year as sales decline and people buy smaller, less costly autos, Bloomberg reported. Peugeot rose as much as 3.5 percent in Paris trading after the company said European unit sales may fall 12 percent this year, better than a 20 percent drop forecast April 22, as governments pay people to scrap old cars and buy new ones. The loss will be €1 billion to €2 billion, it said.

Landmark decisions in Victorian and NSW courts against the fee-gouging antics of two insolvency practitioners should be a call to arms for the corporate watchdog and the federal government to toughen insolvency regulations in Australia, The Australian reported. The brutal reality is that as the economy moves towards a recession, more companies will be put into voluntary administration, receivership or liquidation. The big winners are the so-called corporate undertakers -- the administrators, liquidators and lawyers who are called in to manage failed companies.

One of the State’s largest property developers, Liam Carroll, is being personally sued for €60 million by Irish Nationwide Building Society arising from guarantees over loans made to his company, Aifca Ltd, the Irish Times reported. Mr Carroll allegedly told former INBS chief executive Michael Fingleton in late 2008 that he could deal with €30 million of the guarantee in 2009 and had also confirmed Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Scotland (Ireland) had the largest exposure arising from his developments.

In a last-minute maneuver at the auction for Norwood Promotional Products Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of razor, lighter and pen colossus Bic USA Inc. trumped Aurora Capital Group’s stalking horse bid with a $162.5 million offer, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. A day after Norwood entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 5, 2009, the debtor established Aurora Resurgence as the stalking horse bidder and heralded the seemingly imminent sale to the investment firm.

In an effort to save on its legal bills, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has put together a team of Indian attorneys to tackle contract review, drafting and legal research, triggering fears that BigLaw firms will start to lose out as companies look for cheaper ways to meet their legal needs, Law360 reported. Rio Tinto's managing attorney Leah Cooper predicts the move will save the company up to 20 percent annually in legal costs, and will allow Rio Tinto's in-house counsel to take over more of the work previously shipped to outside counsel.

Nortel Networks, once a technology giant, has decided to sell itself off in pieces rather than attempt to emerge from bankruptcy as a restructured company, the Associated Press reported. Nokia Siemens Networks agreed to buy some wireless operations of Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. in a $650 million deal as the more than century-old Nortel announced it is looking for buyers for the rest of its assets.

The federal government could have prevented the liquidation of Nortel Networks Corp. with a massive bailout, but instead Ottawa has decided that the best way to salvage something from the biggest corporate bust in Canadian history is to help fund a foreign breakup, The Globe and Mail reported. Through the Export Development Corp. (EDC), which normally helps Canadian exporters and investors expand their businesses abroad, the government will provide $300-million toward a credit facility for Nokia Siemens Networks' $650-million (U.S.) bid for Nortel's wireless assets.

Setanta, the embattled sports broadcaster, is on the brink of collapse and may go into administration in the UK, as early as today. The Irish operation, which is reported to be profitable may be saved, Finfacts reported. Len Blavatnik, the Russian-born US citizen and billionaire had offered Setanta a £20 million lifeline to the company, but withdrew it last week. Setanta is estimated to have around £500 million of debt.

Stricken fashion house Escada said it still saw a chance that it could raise cash and reduce debt sufficiently in the next two months to avert an insolvency, Reuters reported. "The Board of Management still reckons that the assumptions on which the current business performance plan is based will materialise and that the planned financial restructuring can be implemented," the company said in a report on Monday. The company's shares were down 5.17 percent at 2.75 euros at 0738 GMT. The stock has lost around 80 percent of its value over the past 12 months.