Headlines

The spreading of company tax debt is "a time bomb waiting to go off", according to Hall Chadwick accountants and business advisers partner Richard Albarran. An expert in insolvency and business recovery, Albarran said more companies than ever before are resorting to (voluntary) administration over taxes, Money Management reported.

Albidon has warned it could go into voluntary administration if it doesn't finalise funding talks with China's Jinchuan Group, The Australian reported. The Perth-based nickel miner went into a trading halt today, saying negotiations with Jinchuan were well advanced, but are yet to be finalised with senior lenders and unsecured creditors. Lenders had previously granted Albidon an extension to midnight, March 23. If Albidon doesn’t agree on funding arrangements “on a timely basis,” the company will be placed into administration, it said in a statement.

The South Korean government Tuesday launched a new program to support the country's middle-income workers, stressing that a strong middle class is the key to economic recovery and future growth, Yonhap reported. The program, named the Human New Deal, calls for efforts to prevent those in the economic class from falling out of their bracket, as well as support for those moving up the stratum, according to the Presidential Council on Future and Vision.

The U.K. inflation rate unexpectedly rose in February after higher food costs and the weakness of the pound sustained price pressures even as Britain’s recession deepened, Bloomberg reported. Consumer prices climbed 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 28 economists was for 2.6 percent. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King wrote in a letter to the Treasury explaining the increase from the 3 percent limit that a “sharp decline” in the inflation rate is likely to resume.

A tiny default by a Russian aircraft-leasing company is sending ripples through the much larger market for the country's debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The default by Finance Leasing Co. on $250 million of bonds is the first by a Russian state-owned company on foreign debt since the country's 1998 financial meltdown. That is rattling foreign investors, who worry that Russia could allow many more companies to renege on billions of dollars of debt while it grapples with an economic and financial crisis.

Beleaguered AbitibiBowater Inc. is facing down an imminent bankruptcy filing as early as this week after the newsprint giant blew past a deadline given by a contingent of secured U.S. lenders to come up with a suitable plan to restructure a multibillion-dollar debt load, the Financial Post reported. The Montreal-based company had until midnight Friday to reach an accord with lenders which included Bank of America, Citicorp and Wachovia Corp. that would allow Abitibi to proceed with a plan to restructure US$1.8-billion in debt at American subsidiary Bowater Inc.

A company formerly linked to failed finance company Bridgecorp has been placed in receivership, BusinessDay reported. Compass Capital, once an offshoot of Bridgecorp, has had Grant Graham and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha appointed as receivers. Investors are currently being notified of the move. Compass stopped seeking money from investors soon after Bridgecorp was placed in receivership in July 2007 and has been working to repay monies owed since. The receivership is seen at this stage as a logical next step in recovering monies and winding the business down.

The president of the European Central Bank said Europe doesn't need to boost spending more to combat the global financial crisis, throwing the bank's weight behind Europe's governments in their battle with the U.S. over how to overcome the worst recession in a generation. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Jean-Claude Trichet said that instead of pushing new measures, governments around the world should move faster on what they've already announced--referring in part to delays and difficulties in the U.S. government's rescue of its troubled banks. Europe and the U.S.

UBS, the world's biggest wealth manager, has axed a team of six private bankers in Singapore, who were managing wealth for Turkish clients, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday. UBS is struggling after losing billions in the risky U.S. housing market, which forced it to obtain financial aid from the Swiss government. The Singapore team was managing clients' assets worth between $200 million to $300 million and was hired from Swiss rival Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) two years ago, a source briefed on the situation said.

Hungary’s ruling Socialists began hunting for a new premier to tackle the economic and financial crisis after Ferenc Gyurcsany said he will quit with the nation mired in its worst recession in at least 16 years, Bloomberg reported. His successor, who will need opposition support, would be elected on April 14 by parliament, Gyurcsany, who heads a minority administration, said yesterday. Talks with rival parties are under way. The new Cabinet will have a year to repair Hungary’s finances before the next scheduled elections.