Headlines

Malaysia’s government said the economy may shrink as much as 5 percent this year, slashing its forecast as the nation nears the first recession in a decade, Bloomberg reported. This year’s contraction will range from 4 percent to 5 percent, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur. In March, he said the economy would shrink 1 percent at worst or even expand by the same amount. Growth may return in the fourth quarter, he said today. Malaysia’s economy shrank more than analysts expected in the first quarter as exports slumped, central bank data showed yesterday.

General Motors Europe said Wednesday that the assets of its Opel and Vauxhall brands are being consolidated under the ownership of its German-based Opel unit to prepare for an investor to acquire the company, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spokeswoman Karin Kirchner said the factories, patents and other assets of the German and British brands are being consolidated debt-free "under Adam Opel GmbH, which belongs 100% to GM." Ms. Kirchner said the move, approved Wednesday by Opel's supervisory board, would prepare Opel and sister company Vauxhall for a sale.

Bidders for German carmaker Opel are being pressed to make last-minute changes to their offers ahead of a meeting on Wednesday that could narrow the field of potential investors in the General Motors unit, Reuters reported. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has been considering offers for Opel from Italy's Fiat, Canadian auto parts company Magna International and Belgium-listed industrial holding RHJ International.

Qimonda AG’s insolvency lawyer Michael Jaffe is examining a possible sale of parts of the company after China’s Inspur Group Co. said its not interested in a complete takeover, the Financial Times Deutschland said, citing unidentified people close to Qimonda’s creditors. Jaffe, who had aimed to find an investor by the end of May, still hasn’t received an offer for the memory-chip maker, the newspaper said. Potential buyers signaled interest in patent right and parts of production, the newspaper said, citing its sources.

Court-appointed administrators overseeing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s global bankruptcy proceedings have signed a multilateral agreement allowing them to share information and coordinate the insolvency process as the financial services firm wends its way through more than 75 distinct bankruptcy filings, Bankruptcy Law360 reported.

A Spanish bank that was among the biggest losers in the Bernard Madoff swindle has cut a deal to avoid a legal brawl with the trustee trying to unwind the massive Ponzi scheme, the Associated Press reported. The settlement, announced Tuesday, calls for Banco Santander to pay $235 million to resolve potential legal claims over withdrawals a subsidiary made from its investments with Madoff in the 90 days before the fraud collapsed. In exchange, the trustee has agreed to recognize that Santander's hedge fund subsidiary, Optimal Investment Services, lost far more in the scam than it withdrew.

The possible insolvency of German department-store operator Arcandor AG could have an impact on a property-investment consortium led by the Whitehall Funds, which owns a 51% stake in a portfolio that includes 85 of the retailer's Karstadt stores as well as other properties, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some of the buildings are among Germany's top retail locations, such as the KaDeWe store in Berlin or the Oberpollinger store in Munich.

The failure of suppliers’ businesses is the number one concern for manufacturers when it comes to the resilience of their supply chains, ahead of reduced access to capital, protectionism fears and cost volatility, reflecting the sector’s heightened fear of corporate defaults, Finfacts Ireland reported. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of manufacturers surveyed say the collapse of suppliers would have an immediate impact on their business. This is one of the key findings of a new research report, Manufacturing confidence, from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Dutch-based sustainable energy company Econcern said on Tuesday it had filed for voluntary receivership after it failed in a bid to secure refinancing, the Guardian reported on a Reuters story. The company, which had been aiming for an initial public offering between 2010 and 2012, said in April it would cut 200 jobs as it was feeling the impact of the credit crisis and the economic recession. Currently, it employs 1,200 people, Econcern's Web site said. A spokeswoman declined to give details about the size of the loan facility it was negotiating.

Receivers appointed to two companies developing the first stage of Queenstown's $1 billion Kawarau Falls Station six-hotel development say it is too early to know whether the project can be completed, The National Business Review. Yesterday two companies associated with the development, Melview (Kawarau Falls Station) Investments Ltd and Melview (Kawarau Falls Station) Development Ltd, were put into receivership by Australian lender BOS International. Receiver Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha said, "it's too early for us to make any statements around that.