Headlines

Credit Suisse has formed a restructuring team in response to growing pleas for help from debt-dogged corporates wanting advice on their finances, the Financial Times reported. The move follows similar actions by banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. As European companies face $200 billion of debt coming due this year, according to Standard & Poor’s, their options to refinance are limited by the reduced willingness of banks and other investors to lend.

U.K. banks could pursue a plan that would give faltering companies a way to offload bad debt in order to stave off further bankruptcies and job losses, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under a plan that is in its preliminary stages, these people said that U.K. banks--possibly in partnership with the government--would set up a fund aimed at preventing corporate defaults. Faltering companies would give the fund equity in exchange for it assuming debt owed to banks, under one structure that is being considered.

Japanese real estate investment firm Creed Corp said on Friday it has filed for court protection from creditors with 65 billion yen ($713 million) in debt, hurt by a sharp downturn in the property market, Reuters reported. Hit by a slump in sales and a credit crunch sparked by U.S. subprime loan problems, many property firms have been forced into bankruptcy after failing to make debt repayments.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. said it can keep operating in the wake of revelations its former chairman faked results--but it is strapped for cash and its investigation into the true state of its finances is being hampered by the absence of the chief financial officer, who has tendered his resignation. The chairman of the Securities & Exchange Board of India said officials from the markets regulator started arriving at Satyam Thursday to begin their probe, The Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. private-equity firm KPS Capital Partners LP has signed a letter of intent to acquire certain assets of Waterford Wedgwood PLC, the historic crystal and ceramic maker that filed for insolvency this week, the group's administrators, Deloitte LLP, said Thursday. Deloitte said it was continuing to talk to other potential buyers as well, The Wall Street Journal reported. Deloitte and KPS officials said they couldn't comment on the size of the potential deal.

Ssangyong Motor filed for court receivership on Friday to avoid bankruptcy and cope with liquidity problems caused by plunging demand for sports utility vehicles, the Financial Times reported. The South Korean carmaker, which is 51 percent owned by Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), has been seeking financial support from its Chinese parent after suffering four consecutive quarters of losses. Its auto sales dropped 30 per cent last year amid the global economic downturn.

As South Korea’s financial watchdog and creditor banks speed up work to weed out nonviable firms, creditor companies of the troubled C&Heavy Industries have picked Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers as their major corporate evaluation agency in a bid to launch the long-delayed on-the-spot evaluation of the shipyard, The Korea Herald reported. C&Heavy Industries, a shipbuilding wing of C& Group, filed for a workout on Dec. 3 but its creditors have postponed corporate evaluation for over a month amid conflicts over emergency capital injection.

Pamodzi Gold Ltd. will stave off bankruptcy with 676 million rand ($70 million) it plans to raise in loans, Business Report said, citing Chief Executive Officer Peter Steenkamp. The company may also avoid having its shares suspended from trading, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said. The Johannesburg stock exchange wants the company to change the terms of a 400 million rand loan from the Industrial Development Corp. and Pamodzi Resources Ltd. that requires Pamodzi Gold to seek approval from the lenders before selling assets or making acquisitions, it said.

Clifford Chance LLP has disclosed that the economic downturn may force it to lay off up to 8 percent of the lawyers currently at its London office, the third round of layoffs at the firm in the past year or so, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. “Our clients and their legal services needs have undergone significant change over the past year,” said Jeremy Sandelson, London regional managing partner. “We need to reflect that in the London office, and that includes ensuring that our level of staffing is appropriate for today's economic realities.

Another company headed by Christchurch property developer Dave Henderson is in receivership, The Press reported. Receivers were appointed to Elgin Investments Ltd on December 5, Companies Office records show. The company owns the Sydenham Central Mall (formerly the Spotlight Plaza) in Colombo Street, the key tenant being a Spotlight store. Christchurch property management company Livingstones will continue to manage the mall. Shares in the company are owned by investors in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Hong Kong and Australia. The mall has been on the market for at least a year.