Headlines

Nomura Holdings, the Japanese brokerage that burst onto the global investment banking scene last year by buying pieces of Lehman Brothers, on Friday posted the biggest annual loss in its history, casting a pall over what was a bold and risky bid to build up a world franchise, The New York Times reported. Nomura, Japan’s largest broker, which in September acquired the Asian, European and Middle Eastern businesses of the failed U.S.

Bridgecorp’s receivers may not even be able to recoup ten cents in the dollar from the company’s loan book for investors, The National Business Review reported. But the estimate doesn’t include any potential returns from overseas assets or legal claims relating to insurance and Bridgecorp directors’ actions before the company failed. Receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers are working on potential action against Bridgecorp directors, with Rod Petricevic, Robert Roest and three others already facing criminal proceedings.

Italian car maker Fiat SpA is in talks to buy a stake in General Motors Corp.'s German-based unit Adam Opel GmbH as part of a wide-ranging strategy to become one of the world's largest auto makers, according to people familiar with the matter. Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne held talks in Berlin last week with German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who is leading the German government's search for a new investor in Opel, one person said.

The U.K. economy shrank more than economists forecast in the first quarter in the biggest contraction since Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979. Gross domestic product fell 1.9 percent from the final three months of 2008 as manufacturing and business services posted record declines, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists predicted 1.5 percent, the median of 29 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey showed. GDP declined 1.6 percent in the previous quarter.

Australian tourism group Stella, which owns the Harvey World Travel and United Travel brands in New Zealand, has rejected a report in an Australian newspaper claiming the company is close to collapse, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Australian yesterday said it understood accountants close to UBS, Stella's main banker, had recommended it place Stella into receivership or sell assets immediately to stem losses. UBS supported private equity player CVC Asia Pacific in buying two-thirds of the tourism business last year from the now-collapsed Gold Coast financier MFS.

Canada is preparing contingency plans in case General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC seek bankruptcy protection, Industry Minister Tony Clement said. “We have made a lot of contingency plans,” Clement told reporters in Ottawa today. “Our plan A is moving forward outside of bankruptcy protection, but there are plan Bs and plan Cs, and that’s responsible to protect taxpayers,” Bloomberg reported. The Canadian and Ontario governments are in discussions with the U.S.

Ralph Janvey, the U.S. court-appointed receiver overseeing the businesses of R. Allen Stanford, told a judge as much as $1 billion in cash can’t be found and that the financier’s companies were organized to blur how they operate. A “very substantial” amount of cash--as much as $1 billion--received by Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd., can’t be accounted for, Janvey said. U.S. regulators sued Stanford and two of his employees, accusing them of running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme through his Stanford Group Co. and two related businesses.

The global Stella tourism empire, which owns the Harvey World Travel chain and manages one in five Gold Coast holiday apartments, is in danger of collapse, threatening to cost banking giant UBS hundreds of millions of dollars. Private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific and UBS are understood to have lost up to $1 billion on Stella after buying two-thirds of the struggling giant last year from the now-collapsed high-risk Gold Coast financier MFS. Stella today denied that it had been advised to appoint receivers.

Listed Propertyfinance Group's principal subsidiary Propertyfinance Securities (PFS) has applied for a High Court injunction to temporarily halt its trustee Covenant Trustee Company from being able to appoint receivers, The New Zealand Herald reported. The injunction is being sought until PFS can hold a previously announced special meeting of stockholders.

Timbercorp has gone into voluntary administration, owing $562.9 million, the Herald Sun reported. Rural investment experts told BusinessDaily today that they felt the collapse was only a matter of time after the announcement last week by chief executive Sol Rabinowicz that Timbercorp had fully drawn up to $367 million in bank loans. Directors called in administrators Mark Korda and Leanne Chesser of KordaMentha early this morning. The company owns hundreds of thousands of acres of plantations, including Australia's biggest olive grove at Boort, in Victoria's north.