Headlines

Lawyers say debtor-in-possession financing (DIP)--the backbone of formal restructuring proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA)--is difficult to obtain, partly because financial institutions accustomed to providing such facilities face their own financial troubles, the Financial Post reported. Since the 1990s, CCAA filings have been the preferred legal avenue by which companies such as Eaton's, Air Canada, Stelco and Abitibi bought time necessary to continue operations while they restructured. That's changing.

New Zealand firm phil&teds has purchased defunct children’s buggy manufacturer Mountain Buggy, The National Business Review reported. Parent company Tritec Manufacturing--which makes the buggy--and Mountain Buggy New Zealand went into receivership at the end of January with an estimated debt of $22 million. No details on how much the company was bought for have been released. Receivers PricewaterhouseCooper have sold the business as a going concern. Chief executive Campbell Gower said “phil&teds will run the Mountain Buggy factory in New Zealand before making any decisions.

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that it would come to the rescue of Romania as part of a $27 billion financing package to help the country weather the financial crisis. The fund said in a statement from Washington that agreement had been reached on an economic program supported by a loan of about $17.5 billion under a two-year stand-by arrangement, The New York Times reported. Pending the approval of the fund’s executive board, Romania would be able to draw $6.75 billion upon board approval.

A wave of indignation swept over France when it became known Tuesday that the head of a large auto parts company who was edged out because of poor results walked away with a severance package worth more than $4 million, The Washington Post reported.

German business confidence fell to the lowest level in more than 26 years in March, adding to signs that the recession is deepening, Bloomberg reported. The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, dropped to 82.1 from 82.6 in February. That’s the worst reading since November 1982. Economists expected a decline to 82.2, according to the median of 37 forecasts in a News survey. A global slump in demand has forced German companies to scale back production and cut jobs, pushing the economy into its worst recession since World War II.

Debt-laden Australian miner OZ Minerals slumped almost 12 percent Tuesday after the government postponed a decision on allowing a A$2.6 billion dollar ($1.8 billion) takeover by China's Minmetals, Agence France-Presse reported. The market had hoped to see the deal approved when OZ Minerals shares were suspended on the Australian Stock Exchange Monday pending an announcement, but instead the government said it would not make a decision for 90 days.

A massive development at the heart of Scotland's capital was brought to a halt yesterday, after the company behind the scheme went into administration, The Scotsman reported. Mountgrange Capital, which has spent more than four years pursuing the £300 million Caltongate project, blamed a withdrawal of support from Bank of Scotland and the slump in the property market for the move. It has cast a huge doubt over the future of the site in Edinburgh's Old Town and the firm's other major development in Scotland.

China called for the creation of a new currency to eventually replace the dollar as the world's standard, proposing a sweeping overhaul of global finance that reflects developing nations' growing unhappiness with the U.S. role in the world economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The unusual proposal, made by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan in an essay released Monday in Beijing, is part of China's increasingly assertive approach to shaping the global response to the financial crisis. Mr.

The Dubai developer helping build the $8.6 billion CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip said Monday it is suing struggling partner MGM Mirage amid concerns about the project's viability, the Associated Press reported. Dubai World said its Infinity World subsidiary filed the lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court "to protect its rights and the best interests of the CityCenter project." Infinity contends that recent statements by MGM Mirage about its ailing financial state constitute a breach of its joint-venture agreement and put the project at risk.

The German economy will shrink 6% to 7% this year, Commerzbank forecast on Monday, result that would put the country in the deepest recession of any major European economy this year. The German government currently forecasts that 2009 gross domestic product will fall only 2.25%. But the deluge of gloomy data from German industry is prompting more analysts to cut expectations, adding fuel to the debate over whether the country should adopt a more aggressive fiscal-stimulus policy.