Headlines

A bond default by a Chinese timber company is the latest example of trouble emerging from complex debt deals that foreign investors rushed to strike in China during the past few years, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mandra Forestry Finance Ltd. missed a May 15 payment on $195 million in senior debt that was issued four years ago and matures in May 2013, the company said. Mandra said it is reviewing alternatives, which could include selling the firm.

Macreddin Golf Club, a County Wicklow course designed by Paul McGinley, has gone into receivership following a move by the club’s bankers, The Sunday Business Post reported. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has appointed a receiver over the 18hole championship course in an effort to shore up loans that it has advanced to the course, which is located in Macreddin village. Declan Taite, a partner with accountancy firm FGS in Dublin, has been installed as receiver over the company behind the course, The Macreddin Club Plc.

Years after graduating from dependence on the International Monetary Fund, many African countries are having to call upon the fund for assistance to cope with a global economic crisis that is not their fault, Reuters reported. The international economic turmoil has been slower to reach Africa because of its limited financial links to the outside world. But now, African economies are struggling against collapsing demand for their products, volatile commodity prices and falling foreign investment.

The government is warning that it will not be reluctant to place the Jamaica Citrus Growers Limited into receivership if its board of directors fails to make certain critical decisions, by the end of this week, about the restructuring of the company, The Gleaner reported. The company is now facing bankruptcy following liquidity problems that commenced in 2006.

Shares in British banks fell on Thursday after it emerged that the economic assumptions used to test whether some of the biggest institutions could withstand a deep recession may have been less severe than assumed in financial markets, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Services Authority, the City of London watchdog, published details of the worst-case economic scenarios used to test the capital strength of banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds.

Aurelius Capital Management LP, an unsecured creditor of an affiliate of bankrupt newsprint company AbitibiBowater Inc., has objected to the company's debtor-in-possession financing request, saying it provides unneeded funds and lien-holder protections, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. The investment fund filed its objection Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, asserting that the requests for as much as $600 million in DIP financing as well as use of cash collateral and continued use of cash management systems should not be approved without modifications.

London or Paris may become the hub for the resolution of dozens of lawsuits related to banks’ and investment funds’ exposure to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Luxembourg’s Treasury and Budget Minister Luc Frieden said. The nation’s courts have dealt with more than 20 lawsuits and will get hundreds more in the coming months from investors seeking compensation from banks, funds and auditors for losses.

Upping the rhetorical as well as the financial ante in what has become a high-stakes poker game that will decide the fate of Opel and the rest of General Motor’s operations in Europe, Fiat’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, announced that he would skip government talks Friday in Berlin to provide Opel with emergency aid if G.M. files for bankruptcy, The New York Times reported. Fiat and Mr. Marchionne are still hoping to acquire Opel, and are wary of letting their main rival in the talks, Magna, gain the upper hand.

General Motors Corp.'s Saab Automobile AG Friday won more time to pursue a likely sale and avoid bankruptcy after a local Swedish court granted an extension to the struggling Swedish automaker's creditor protection period. Vanersborg District Court in southwestern Sweden extended the reorganization period for three months until Aug. 20. Loss-making Saab was granted protection from creditors in February, similar to Chapter 11 protection in the U.S., with the aim of reorganizing itself in a bid to become profitable.

Japanese apartment developer Joint Corp filed for bankruptcy protection with about $1.5 billion in debt, underscoring the sluggish state of the property market and dealing a blow to shareholder Orix Corp, Reuters reported. Joint, which received a capital infusion from Orix late last year to shore up its finances, said it was forced to file for court protection from creditors after revenues, mainly from real estate securitisation, dried up.