Headlines

One of the two trustee companies that presided over the vast majority of New Zealand finance company failures is hitting back at criticism of its role in the industry’s collapse, The National Business Review reported. Perpetual Trust says it’s not to blame for the company failures; instead, out of pocket investors should point the finger at dodgy directors and inadequate auditing by accountants. Perpetual and another firm Covenant, acted as trustees for almost all of the finance companies that have collapsed over the last three years.

Chilean container shipping line CSAV has staved off the spectre of bankruptcy after it put together a US$710m capital raising plan in agreement with the Hamburg-based shipowners that own much of its chartered fleet, International Freighting Weekly reported. CEO Juan Antonio Alvarez said that a $130m capital raising programme through existing shareholders was underway and expected to be concluded in June. A second capital increase of $220m will follow that, while a group of Hamburg shipowners have guaranteed to raise a third tranche of $360m.

Myanmar's financial system and economy are largely cut off from the outside world -- but not the global economic crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. As the country's military junta wraps up its trial of dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, conditions in the capital and rural areas illustrate the effects of the slowdown on this isolated nation's already-tenuous economy. Key sectors such as agriculture and tourism are reeling, and business in the commercial center of Yangon has dwindled, residents and economists say.

Germany's financial regulator warned of serious problems at Hypo Real Estate Holding AG six months before the lender was rescued in a massive bailout, but the regulator lacked powers to act and the government ignored its warnings, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The documents--brought to light in preparation for parliamentary committee hearings Thursday to examine the government's handling of Hypo's bailout--are likely to prove politically charged ahead of national elections in September. For months, Germany lectured the U.S.

Germany hasn't reached a decision yet on providing state-backed bridge financing to General Motors Corp.'s Adam Opel GmbH to give the unit more time to clinch a deal with a new investor because the U.S. parent company has come up with a new cash demand, German government officials said early Thursday. A decision over Opel has been delayed to Friday, Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told reporters after late night negotiations in Berlin that dragged on into the early hours of Thursday.

From his secret hideaway, BTA Bank’s former Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov says Kazakhstan’s government caused the default of the nation’s largest lender. Kazakh prosecutors want him for allegedly embezzling the bank’s money, Bloomberg reported. The biggest losers in the dispute may be investors who poured into the former Soviet state as crude oil rose to a record and the economy grew 10 percent annually for eight years.

France's US-owned couture house Christian Lacroix SNC has declared insolvency after falling foul of the global crisis, the company said Thursday. Arguably one of the most exuberant couturiers in Paris, Christian Lacroix SNC said in a statement that the company owned by Falic had declared insolvency before a Paris court due to "the sharp downturn of the luxury market," Agence France-Presse reported.

General Motors Corp. said Wednesday its operations in Thailand and Southeast Asia are unaffected by its ongoing restructuring, Dow Jones Newswires reported. "Operations in Thailand and the ASEAN region will remain unaffected by GM Corp.'s situation in the U.S., even in the event GM Corp. files for Chapter 11. This is because GM Thailand, including Chevrolet Sales Thailand, and other operations in ASEAN are locally-incorporated entities which accords them the ability to operate independently from its parent company in the US," General Motors said in a statement.

Air Canada is in a cash crunch partly because the previous management group "lost the plot" as the economy turned last year. But the company may still be able to avoid a return to bankruptcy protection, provided it can strike a deal with its unions that doesn't increase costs and ensures labour peace, said Robert Milton, chairman and CEO of Air Canada's controlling shareholder, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Pensions have emerged as the central issue in the talks with pilots, flight attendants and other unionized employees for new contracts.

A company which partnered property company Blackrock International Land in a number of joint ventures in Scotland has been place in receivership, RTÉ Business reported. But the Irish company says the move is not expected to have any adverse financial impact on it. Blackrock invested in five joint ventures in Scotland with Applecross Properties Limited between April 2007 and February 2009. These investments are held through stand-alone entities that were promoted and managed by Applecross. Blackrock said it had been notified by Applecross that it was placed in receivership last Friday.