Headlines

The defunct pushchair company Mountain Buggy was in court yesterday over a dispute over distribution with Denmark-based company DK Intertrade, The National Business Review reported. Mountain Buggy receiver John Fisk, of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, says Mountain Buggy will defend the filings. He adds that DK Intertrade is an unsecured creditor. The NZ pushchair company and its parent company Tritec Manufacturing went into receivership in mid-January with more than $20 million in debt. The company has 89 staff.

The Royal Bank of Scotland posted Thursday a record net loss of 24.14 billion pounds ($34.4 billion) for 2008--the biggest in British corporate history--and unveiled a massive restructuring program that will hive off many of its international businesses, the Associated Press reported. Britain's second largest bank, which has already been part-nationalized under bailout packages worth more than 20 billion pounds, also said it will offload 325 billion pounds of toxic assets into a government insurance program.

Investment bank ABN Amro and New Zealand’s biggest retail investment advisory network ABN Amro Craigs could soon be ringfenced into a “bad bank,” put up for sale and forced to cut jobs. Royal Bank of Scotland owns half of ABN Amro Craigs and all of ABN Amro in New Zealand, and its radical restructure is expected to create a separate “bad bank” consisting of unwanted businesses and toxic assets, which is ringfenced from the rest of the RBS balance sheet. ABN Amro Craigs has more than 60,000 retail investor clients, and 300 staff in 17 locations around New Zealand.

Germany is the world's leading exporter and fourth-biggest economy, but during the global financial meltdown, it has also been among the most tightfisted. For months, German leaders have warned that spending and lending huge sums to fend off recession--such as the United States' $787 billion stimulus package--will backfire in the long run. In recent days, however, German officials have had a swift change of heart, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Financial institutions from government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to UBS AG may saddle taxpayers with distressed assets as they negotiate debt-for-equity swaps with failing corporate borrowers, Bloomberg reported. “Taxpayers are indirectly becoming the owners of bad companies as a result of the debt-for-equity restructurings,” said Louis Gargour, chief investment officer at LNG Capital LLP, a London-based hedge fund that invests in distressed credit markets. “A debt-for-equity swap is always the last resort for banks.

The U.K. Financial Services Authority Thursday said that bonus-pool calculations should take into account current and future risk, as part of a draft code of practice on remuneration, The Wall Street Journal reported. The financial watchdog said that firms shouldn't base performance solely on the results of the current financial year. Non-financial factors, such as adherence to risk management and compliance with regulations, should form a significant part of performance assessment, it added.

The EU is falling short of the US response to the economic crisis because governments have failed to work closely enough, the economic and monetary affairs commissioner has warned. “I really think that the degree of co-ordination could be seriously improved,” Joaquín Almunia said in an interview with the Financial Times. His comments emphasise fears Europe has sown the seeds of a slow recovery and will lag behind the US when the recession ends. There was too little co-ordination between capitals when economic stimulus packages were drawn up, Mr Almunia said.

Finnish bathroom fittings manufacturer Sanitec's lenders are considering private equity owner EQT's restructuring proposals, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Nordic private equity firm EQT has offered to inject €100 million ($127.4 million) of equity into the company in exchange for reducing its debt to €350 million, sources said. EQT's offer is viewed as an opening gambit in negotiations by lenders that may submit alternative proposals, including the injection of fresh equity from new sponsors, sources close to the deal said.

Debt-laden Australian miner OZ Minerals sought to allay concerns on Wednesday that it was days away from default, but wider fears persisted over the future of a $1.7 billion rescue bid for the company from China, Reuters reported. The world's second-largest zinc miner is due to repay a loan by Friday, but concerns its banks would not roll over that debt sent its shares plunging as much as 31 percent, prompting OZ Minerals to declare that talks with the banks were positive.

The Haifa District Court ruled yesterday against putting the Pri Hagalil company into immediate receivership and granted until March 1 for proposals that would rescue the economically ailing firm from closing, Haaretz.com reported. District Court Judge Alex Keysari made his ruling following four hours of deliberations, and said that a discussion will be held on March 5 to consider the various proposals for revamping the company holding the Hatzor Haglilit food processing plant, in the north.