Headlines

Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s competition commissioner, said banks that receive government aid should have simpler structures and less-leveraged balance sheets to win EU approval for their restructuring plans, Bloomberg reported. The 27-nation EU needs lenders with “new business models” that can fit in with changes in the sector, Kroes said.

The European Commission said on Friday that it had launched an in-depth investigation into the restructuring of Belgian-French financial group Dexia, Reuters reported. The Commission said in a statement it intended to make sure the restructuring plan would guarantee the long-term viability of the group, hit hard by the financial crisis. But the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union also authorised guarantees worth $16.9 billion from the Belgian and French governments to aid in the sale of FSA, the bank's U.S. subsidiary.

Inspur International Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed computer and information technology company, said it’s not interested in acquiring a stake in Qimonda AG, the memory-chipmaker that filed for insolvency in January, Bloomberg reported. Inspur Group Co., the parent of Inspur International Ltd., ended talks to buy a stake in Qimonda, Liu Xueheng, Hong Kong- based spokesman at the unit, said by phone today. Negotiations ended after Qimonda’s insolvency filing, Liu said.

French bank Societe Generale defended its actions after the disclosure that it was among European banks which received payments from U.S. insurer AIG following its bailout, Reuters reported. France's third biggest by market value said on Monday it had acted within its rights to call on AIG for cash. "Societe Generale acted in this matter in full conformity with our counterparty agreements with AIG," it said in a statement. "Societe Generale issued collateral calls to AIG in accordance with the terms of those agreements as a result of specified credit events at AIG," it said.

Citing a difficult economic climate and a decline in work flow, Baker & McKenzie LLP plans to initiate a formal redundancy consultation review at its London office later this month that seeks to eliminate between 60 and 85 jobs, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. In an internal e-mail to the firm’s London staff, office managing partner Gary Senior said the firm would launch the monthlong consultation process on March 31 and cut between 20 and 30 jobs from its legal practices, about half of which are likely to come from the corporate group.

Saab Automobile, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, will cut 750 jobs at its main factory in southern Sweden in response to falling demand, Bloomberg reported. About 650 of the affected workers are tied to production, while the remaining 100 jobs are administrative positions, Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said by telephone from Gothenburg today. Saab has about 4,100 workers, most of them in Trollhaettan, where Saab makes the 9-3 and 9-5 models.

New Zealand investors have nixed Babcock & Brown’s hope of staying afloat, rejecting a restructure proposal and an 0.1% payout on their $225 million investment in Babcock subordinated notes, The National Business Review reported. Babcock is now in administration, as the vote that was to be held later today in Australia will no longer take place. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu have been appointed as administrators. They will ask creditors to nominate a committee of representatives at the first meeting to be held on March 25.

South Korea's seventh largest shipping line Samsun Logix has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in Manhattan, Seatrade Asia reported. Samsun Logix has more than $100 million of assets and debts, the firm said in its filing. A series of firms failing to pay charter hire sent Samsun to the wall. It filed for court receivership in Seoul in February. Established in 1980 as Samsun Shipping Corporation, the firm maintains it was not paid fees worth $40 million by a Swiss company which filed for bankruptcy protection late last year.

The Ontario Securities Commission is seeking a court order to put hedge fund manager Sextant Capital Management Inc. and related companies into receivership, the Globe and Mail reported. An Ontario Superior Court hearing into the regulator's request to appoint a receiver has been set for April 30. Last December, the commission ordered Sextant to stop selling its high-flying fund invested in Icelandic glaciers until March 17. OSC staff are expected to request an extension of the order.

The restructuring of CanWest Global Communications Corp. has begun in earnest, the Globe and Mail reported. The media company, against the ropes with $3.9 billion owed to creditors, has kept its bankers happy by halting interest payments to its bondholders. Now, CanWest and the bondholders, who are working with the law firm Goodmans, are discussing several options to rework the company's loans. Among the options are potentially replacing old debt with new paper and guaranteeing bondholders cash generated from the future sale of some CanWest holdings, sources said yesterday.