Headlines

There are too few turnaround specialists in the world to cope with a surge in the numbers of companies that need restructuring after the credit crisis, an insolvency expert told the Reuters Restructuring Summit. "There are 408 practitioners in 11 of the United States' trading partners, 5 of them have 7 between them...Saudi Arabia, for example, has none," said Nick Hood, senior partner of Begbies Traynor insolvency specialists. Hood said his company was adding staff, but it was not easy to find people with the right skills.

The judge overseeing multidistrict Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation against bankrupt Nortel Networks Inc. has cleared up a dispute by confirming that the MDL was stayed with respect to the individual as well as the corporate defendants, but denied Nortel's request to rescind a report and recommendation that said a class should be certified, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

A number of international companies are considering moving to England to benefit from friendlier insolvency laws and give themselves a better chance of survival, according to City of London-based lawyers, the Financial Times reported. They say a range of European companies are considering relocating so that they can use "schemes of arrangement" or insolvency proceedings to force through debt restructurings if they cannot agree terms with all their stakeholders. This "jurisdiction shopping" in restructuring is nothing new, but it is rare.

Average Irish national house prices fell 1.5% in August according to the latest edition of the permanent tsb / ESRI House Price Index, Finfacts reported. In the first eight months to end August 2009 national house prices have fallen by 10.1% which compares to a reduction of 6.0% in the same period in 2008. Measured over the 12 months (year on year) to August, national prices were down by 13.0%. This compares to a decline of 12.5% recorded in the 12 months to July 2009.

Liquidators of failed construction company CMC Cairns say they have begun investigations into the company's collapse, ABC News reported. The far north Queensland company went into voluntary administration in May and was placed in liquidation two weeks ago after the directors failed to sign a deed of company arrangement that set out a way to trade out of trouble. CMC Cairns owes unsecured creditors $17.5 million, while debts to financiers are nearly $98 million.

The administrators of Queensland’s SV Steel Supplies have recommended that the company, which has an office at Paget, be liquidated. It comes after the revelation yesterday that SV Steel Supplies owes more than $6.5 million to creditors and staff. SV Steel Supplies was placed in voluntary administration on Monday, August 31. Townsville-based accountants and business advisors Jessups were appointed as voluntary administrators.

Due to the past year’s tough economy, a handful of lawyers have been building their expertise in assisting over-leveraged companies with financial restructuring to relieve debt, the Law Times reported. Colloquially, some lawyers refer to the projects as “reverse M&As” due to the nature of the work involved. Edward Sellers, chairman of the insolvency and restructuring practice group at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, is one of several lawyers who have been in the thick of such work over the past two years.

Japan's transport minister said Sunday he will not force the struggling Japan Airlines, Asia's biggest airline, into bankruptcy, The Associated Press reported. "We will not crush and liquidate (the airline)," Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said on a TV Asahi talk show.

Nearly 35 years after winning independence from Portugal, Angola is being populated by its former colonizer once again -- this time by professionals and scores of workers laid off amid the economic slump, The Wall Street Journal reported. Portugal has been hard hit by the global downturn. Unemployment in the second quarter was 9.2% and the economy is expected to shrink by 3.7% this year. Temporary and seasonal construction work in other European Union countries -- a mainstay for Portuguese laborers -- have been drying up.

An Australian court has ruled that local governments can pursue financial claims against collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in Australia and elsewhere, a firm that is funding the litigation said on Monday, Reuters reported. IMF (Australia) Ltd said the Federal Court ruled on Friday in favour of town councils and others which had lost money in collateralised debt obligations marketed and issued by Lehman, opening the door to legal claims to recover their losses.