Headlines

Strategic Resource Acquisition said on Thursday it had filed for bankruptcy protection as a plunge in metals prices and tight credit conditions left the zinc miner unable to pay its bills, Reuters reported. Toronto-based SRA said it and its U.S. subsidiary, Mid-Tennessee Zinc Corp, have filed for U.S. Chapter 11 protection, and said it was also seeking protection in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

Talks between stricken Hypo Real Estate and the German bank aid fund heated up on Friday with sources saying a rescue would inject more than €10 billion ($13.3 billion) of fresh capital. Earlier in the week, sources close to the talks told Reuters that the German government is set to take a stake in Hypo, a move that would mark the second part-nationalisation of a German bank this year.

The parents of the first child who died after consuming melamine-tainted milk formula have accepted a 200,000 yuan compensation from a diary company whose general manager is awaiting court sentence, the Malaysian national news agency BERNAMA reported. The official Xinhua News Agency cited one of the couple's lawyers as saying that the couple was unlikely to get more than the sum if they went to court in Gansu, where death compensation is usually about 40,000 yuan.

Three Japanese auto makers slashed their earnings and production plans Friday on the back of prolonged weakness in demand, with Honda Motor Co. implementing another cutback in domestic output for this fiscal year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Due to the continued slump in auto sales, Honda said that it will reduce production in Japan for the current fiscal year through March by 56,000 vehicles. The latest cutback follows a domestic output reduction by a combined 86,000 vehicles that it already announced for the second half through March.

Home Retail Group, the owner of Homebase, has approached restructuring specialists to review the DIY chain’s store portfolio, The Times reported. HRG, which yesterday announced sales declines in both its Argos and Homebase businesses, is under pressure to cut costs as the DIY and home furnishings sector continues to suffer. Following the collapse of MFI, which sank into administration in November after being saved in a prepack deal in September, HRG made inquiries about a restructuring of its Homebase store portfolio, although no specialists have been appointed.

The Irish government announced on Thursday night that it is to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank, which became Europe's most successful bank during the Irish property bubble and is now its biggest casualty, Finfacts reported. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said he received assurances from the Financial Regulator and Central Bank that the company is solvent. The state was due to take control of 75 percent of the bank after announcing a plan in December to provide €1.5 billion in public funds. An extraordinary general meeting of the bank's shareholders was scheduled for Friday morning.

Citigroup capped a devastating 2008 by announcing Friday that it would split into two entities and that it had posted an $8.29 billion loss for the fourth quarter, the International Herald Tribune reported. Citigroup's rival, Bank of America, also posted a loss, just hours after receiving a new infusion of government support. Citigroup's announcement confirmed that it would divide, for management purposes, into two separate businesses--Citicorp and Citi Holdings.

A Lower Hutt buggy company has folded just a month after making a quarter of its staff redundant, The National Business Review reported. Receiver John Fisk, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Tritec Manufacturing, which makes Mountain Buggy pushchairs, had "significant debts", but it was too early to say what the extent of it was. The closure affected 89 staff, who were still operating the manufacturing plant. "What we're looking at the moment is continuing to trade the business and look to try and find a buyer for the business as a going concern," Mr Fisk said.

Toronto-based Nortel Networks Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. on Wednesday, becoming the first major technology company to take that step in this global downturn, the Associated Press reported. The filing came a day before Nortel was due to make a debt payment of $107 million. Facing a sharp drop in orders from phone companies, the telecommunications equipment maker used the bankruptcy filings to buy time to explore restructuring options like selling off assets.

Construction of a one-kilometer-tall tower slated to be the world's tallest has been delayed by its government-owned developer, in a sign of how a city that seemed to have limitless resources and ambition now is struggling to avoid a hard crash, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Nakheel Tower is the centerpiece of what the company just three months ago billed as a $38 billion commercial and residential project. The delay comes amid project re-evaluations by other developers as Dubai property prices drop.